A Day in the Life of Graviation Fic
by Perfectly Disfunctional
Summary: This is a very boy meets world story. It is based on what would happen if the cast and crew of Graviation stepped out into the real world. With an odd sort of portal it is one adventure after another. Rated for language and yaoi.. (NOT FINISHED)
1. Default Chapter

-Gravitation Fic-

A Day In the Life of...

**DISCLAIMER**: The characters here are not mine –pout- they belong to… well… someone else… .

_Summery_: This fanfic was inspired by my rabidly obsessed little sister's fantasy of what would happen if we could peel Shuiichi out of Gravitation. It is kinds like… Shuiichi meets world. The real world that is. Yay!

(Welcome to the Real World – 1)

Well, last night he had gone to bed next to Eiri. It hadn't been a nice night, they got in a fight and now they were sleeping, dur what else do you do at night. He decided he would apologize to Eiri in the morning. So when he rolled over this morning and cracked his eyes and the person that was next to him was not Eiri. Not only that but it was some young girl that he didn't know from a hole in the wall, he shrieked. Yes he did. He screamed like a girl and fell off the bed and onto the floor. Thud. His scream was greeted by a scream of her own. Erica Smith (because Smith is an amazingly common last name and incriminates no one…) would sit up blinking, pulling her comforter up to her chin. Large blue eyes simply blinking at the pink haired boy sitting on the floor next to her bed.

"OWWY!" The boy's violet eyes seemed to get unrealistically wide as he rubbed his sore butt. That bed was like… really high! And it hurt to fall on his bum!

"Who are y… you look li…" Erica stammered, still wrapped in her blanket she would reach forward and grab a copy of her Gravitation manga, that her mother and sitter didn't know she had, lest it get taken away for the explicit boy on boy sex drawn within it's pages. "Shuiichi Shindo?"

"How do you know me." He said standing up and looking at the book in her hands, in order to do this, he had to invade her bubble by leaning over the book which was facing her, a bubble that she valued enough to push him away, because his hair running under her chin tickled and he was way too close to her chest! Gay or not, he had to back off now.

"Three feet!" She said looking crossly at him as he landed on his bum again.

"But I don't think I like three feet… it hurts." Shuiichi whimpered from his place on the floor.

"Get in the closet." Erica insisted.

"What!" He said. "I don't care who knows that I'm gay"

"Not that!" Erica squeaked. "The closet, my closet! I need to get dressed and I don't want you looking at me!"

"What? Oh!" He would get all little and chibi and scamper into the closet. Erica would get up and get dressed making sure that he was not staring at her while she did so… not, she supposed, that he really would want to… since he was gay after all. What was she going to do with him? How was she going to explain this to her mother? All of this and more went through her mind when her sitter, Kate, knocked on the door.

Erica ran over, shoving the doorknob, which was broken into the door and turning it so that it would open.

"Come here!" She said grabbing Kate's hand and pulling her into the room.

"What?" She asked. Kate was not used to being ordered into Erica's room, usually she was ordered out of it. Erica pushed her little sister out of the room before she closed the door. "Not you, Raven."

"But I wanna come in too." She whined stamping her foot.

"No. It is Erica's room." Kate said sternly, they only went through this fight every other day. "If she says no, it's no."

"Not fair!" Raven said running off into the living room at the other end of the house.

"Life isn't fair." Kate said softly, making sure that Raven didn't hear her. "Now what do you want Erica."

"I have a boy in my closet." She said.

"What!" Kate said, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at Erica.

"No it isn't like that. I know it sounds weird, but it is Shuiichi Shindo." Erica said, that rabid fan girl look on her face.

"What are you talking about?" Kate asked. Erica had come up with some crazy ideas before, but this one certainly topped the cake.

"I'm not kidding!" Erica said growling. She was exasperated. They could hear Raven and her other little sister Jaimey running around out in the hall.

"No running!" Kate yelled through the door, the footsteps stopped running and started walking.

"Um… can I… come out now." Shuiichi asked from the closet. Kate jumped and looked over to see the little pink haired boy standing there. He was dressed in only a pair of pants, which much was not obvious until he stepped out of the closet.

"Holy…" Kate said softly.

"Hi." He said running his fingers back through his hair. He would start looking bashful but no sooner had he started really thinking about than did his eyes become little more than dots with tears literally pouring out of them. "I don't know how I got here! I don't belong here! I wanna go home!"

As he was fussing he would sit on the floor, his legs feet to feet and his hands down on the floor.

"I want my Yuuuuukiii." He wailed.

"Will you shut up?" Kate growled softly. "Before you wake up Charlie and Renee."

"Who?" He asked looking up at Kate.

"Charlie and Renee, Erica's parents?" Kate explained looking down at him. She had a bit of patients when it came to kids, but if this really was Shuiichi Shindo than he was eighteen years old.

"Kate why are you in there when the girls are out here, and what is going on in there." Charlie asked from outside the door. Kate would come forward and cover Shuiichi's mouth. "Nothing, we are watching TV, sorry Erica wanted to show me something."

"Ohh kay." Came from outside the door and the figure shuffled off. Kate released Shuiichi's mouth and looked at him. What the hell was she going to do with him? Sure she had lots of friends that Renee and Charlie didn't know about, she could, she supposed pass Shuiichi off as one of them, or their little brother. But the kid was obviously oblivious to living in the real world, and _very_ anime. She would sit on Erica's bed and sigh softly.

"I need to get your sisters ready for school. I will deal with this when I am done." She said finally. "You guys keep quiet, no more yelling."

She got up and walked out of the room heading down to get the girls ready. This was a daily ritual that took from six thirty in the morning until seven forty-five when she finally finished and came back to the house. Shuiichi and Erica were sitting at the Kitchen table, Charlie had gone back to sleep, since you couldn't keep him awake before he had to go to work and Rach had already left for work. They were eating cereal and Shuiichi seemed to be a little lost. Erica was playing a CD that she had burned off of Limewire that was all Bad Luck stuff from the sound track. This seemed to keep Shuiichi sated, at least it was something familiar.

"How do you think I got here?" He asked Erica as Kate went to go look for something for Shuiichi to wear, he was little so she went down to the laundry room looking for something of Renee's or even of the girls for him.

"I dunno." Erica said thoughtfully.

"Do you know who I am?" He asked.

"Yeah! You are Shuiichi Shindo from Grav… I mean… Bad Luck." She wasn't sure that he would handle it well finding out that he was from a book, this was the fault of Fushigi Yugi, which she had been watching religiously for the last few weeks. In that Tomahome had reacted very badly when he found out that he was not real. Kate, now standing at the top of the stairs was wondering the same thing, but at the same time, he wasn't a lost puppy. The couldn't just… keep him.

"He can't stay here, Charlie will have a heart attack if he comes up and finds him here." Kate said. That was an understatement. Charlie didn't handle well to strange men in his house that he didn't know, or even strange little kids. "He is going to have to go to school with you."

"School! But I graduated already!" He said biting his lip. "I don't wanna go to school!"

"Well you can't stay here. That simple." Kate said rolling her eyes somewhat. She handed Shuiichi a shirt that she had gotten him. It was a simply black tee shirt that was actually Erica's and it would have to do for now.

"But, how… will they let him in?" Erica asked. Kate thought for a minute. She would finally get up and write a note, telling the school that Shuiichi was a cousin from Japan and that he was visiting and for a while would be attending school with Taylor if that was alright. Just as a visitor.

"Take this and go get ready, Shuiichi, you can get dressed in the bathroom." She said pointing to the small bathroom off of the kitchen. In her room Taylor would be doing the happy dance, the Shuiichi happy dance, like when he found out Yuki was all right singing:

"Shuiichi's in my house. Goin' to my school. My house my school…"

"Stop that and get ready Erica!" Kate yelled from in the hall way. She froze, blinking a few times before continuing, only quieter to dance. Finally she brushed her hair and got ready to go. When she came out Shuiichi was sitting on the living room couch with his black leather pants on, and her black tee shirt and a pair of a million shoes that her mother had gotten from a goth friend of theirs that went… ungoth. She stopped and blinked, he didn't see her, his head was no his knees and he was staring at the TV, but he looked a little… sad.

"Are you all right?" She asked.

"Yeah, Yuki is going to be worried about me though. I wish I could call him." He said. Blinking his violet eyes slowly before turning some to look at her. Finally he would smile, that light coming back to his eyes. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah." And with that, they walked out the door heading for the school some way up the road.


	2. Gravitation Bound

(Gravitation Bound - 2)

Meanwhile, back in Gravitation, Mr. Yuki would be waking up alone. _Odd_ he thought as he sat up and grabbed the clock, it was seven thirty a.m, way to damned early. _Why isn't he in bed? Maybe he had an early session._

Eiri could remember him telling him anything about it. Normally he didn't start working until around nine; never this early, Hiro didn't even function at this hour.

"Seems like as good a time as any to get some work done." He said softly, a little downtrodden, he had to admit, for all of the flack that he gave Shuiichi; it was a little lonely here without him.

It was almost ten o'clock when the phone rang, pulling Eiri away from his work. He would roll the chair back and grab the phone, putting it to his ear.

"Hello?" He asked, the cigarette clung between his teeth making him sound annoyed.

"Yes, is Shuiichi there, he didn't come in." It was K, their manager.

"No. He left early this morning." Eiri said pulling that cigarette out of his mouth. "I don't know where he is."

"What do you mean you don't know where he is! We have a signing today!" He heard Mr. Sakano screaming in the background. "He said he didn't want to go! Are you covering for him Mr. Yuki?"

"No." Eiri said hanging up the phone. No sooner had he hung it up than was there a knock at the door. He would sigh and snub his cigarette and open the door, staring down the barrel of a fully loaded M16 sub machine gun. He didn't flinch, nor did it seem odd to him, seeing as this is after all manga land, that K had gotten there so quickly.

"I want my vocalist." He said sternly.

"Than go and find him because he is not here." Eiri said coolly, two fingers coming up to the nozzle of the gun and pushing it aside.

"Where is he?" He asked pulling out a button that seemed to be connected to nothing. But he had a tone in his voice that Eiri should fear it or something.

"What is that?" He said softly lifting an unimpressed brow at K.

"It is my button for ultimate world destruction, what else?" He asked as if Eiri should've known that.

"He won't let me push it!" You could hear Ryuiichi wailing from down the hall. "It is pretty and red and he said no!"

"He is stalking me…" K said looking a little around.

"Ah, well he is still not here, and I don't know where he went." Eiri said, he was starting to get worried now, not that it showed at all. "So if you will excuse me, I am going to go and look for him."

Eiri grabbed his coat and brushed by K, heading to the one person that seemed to always know what was going on whenever something around him went wrong. Tohma.

Eiri would storm into Tohma's office. Tohma was sitting behind his desk, he would calmly look up, seeing Eiri come in, a grin came to his face, the type of calm happiness that only Eiri brought him. Slowly thought, that grin wiped away seeing the look on Eiri's face.

"Where is he?" Eiri demanded. Tohma, who was now completely lost simply blinked at him, uncertain of what Eiri was talking about. "Where is Shuiichi? Whenever something goes wrong between us you are never far behind, now he has vanished."

"Vanished?" Tohma's soft voice asked.

"Yes. He didn't come into work, he wasn't there when I woke up…"

"And you think… I had something to do with this?" Tohma asked calmly, as if the accusation didn't hurt nearly as bad as it did.

"You always do. What did you say to him? Why did he leave?" Eiri said slamming his hands down on the desk, leaning over. Tohma would clasp his hands in front of him, leaning his chin on them.

"Well I didn't." Tohma said.

"Would you tell me if you did?" Eiri asked. Tohma did not answer right away. "Should I take that as a no you wouldn't?"

"I didn't have anything to do with it Eiri." He said placing his hands on the desk and standing up. "You have my word."

"Than where is he…" Eiri said, his arms shaking somewhat, he would only show the fearful side to Tohma, because it was his best friend and his mentor. Someone that he once loved. He would stand there, shaking with his head down.

"You are scared?" Tohma half asked half told him.

"I don't know where he is, this is not like him. Something must be wrong Tohma." Eiri said. Tohma came around and put a hand on Eiri's shoulder. Eiri turned and wrapped his arms around Tohma; his eyes would go wide as he was pulled in against the other. "Where is he?"

"I… I don't know." He said softly, running his hand down Eiri's back. "But if it means… that much to you… we will… find him."


	3. To School With Shuiichi

(School with Shuiichi - 3)

"_Shuiichi! Shut up!_" Erica cried out smacking him with her book. She was trying to take test with that old crone bearing down on her. Miss Strauss hadn't liked that Shuiichi was going to be sitting in on the lesson, and she didn't like that Shuiichi had a lot of energy, having trouble getting him to sit still. He had been softly murmuring the lyrics to one of his songs, but by the end of it, he was so bored that he was singing it at the top of his lungs before Erica hit him. "Sorry Miss. Strauss. He is a little hyper, and probably bored."

"If he can't keep it down he is going to be hyper and bored in the hall way." She growled at them. Shuiichi had slid under his desk, eyes the size of saucers, blinking them rapidly. Taylor hated this woman, and she knew that Miss Strauss wouldn't like Shuiichi, but she didn't think he was going to break out in song in the middle of class. She went back to her math test, Shuiichi remained under the desk, listening to himself on her CD player, not singing anymore.

The next block was Gym after Math. Erica would bring Shuiichi with her and give Mrs. Collins, the coach, the note.

"You want to play?" She asked looking at Shuiichi. "I think I have some extra gym clothes that should fit you. Wait here."

Shuiichi nodded emphatically. Something to do with all of this energy. Erica went into the changing room deciding that she wasn't giving him sugary cereal in the morning anymore. She would run over to Amy, who really wasn't going to care and grab her, dragging her off to the side.

"Ohmigawd!" Erica said jumping up and down. "You don't even understand! I went to bed last night reading my Gravitation manga and I woke up and Shuiichi was in my bed!"

"What?" Amy said looking at her. Amy might have been odd, but that sounded a little far out even for her.

Meanwhile out in the hall Mrs. Collins gave Shuiichi a pair of gray gym shorts and a pink tank top, and a pair of white leather sneakers with black stripes on them. She would turn him towards the girl's locker room and then walk away. She must've thought that he was a girl. He didn't know any better though, so in he waltzed.

Erica turned around to see the pink-haired youth enter the locker room, all of the girls just stood there staring at him for a moment, as if in shock.

"_Shuiichi!_" Erica yelled. "Get out!"

With that the rest of them broke into hysterics, like a pack of hyena's where one had to make a noise before anyone else would react. They all started throwing things at him and he would go running out of the locker room, slamming the door and putting his back against it.

"Eww! Erica! You're cousin's a perv!" Amanda said, she would toss her brown hair and storm away, as if it were completely Erica's fault.

"Ohmigawd!" Amy said. She didn't like Gravitation, because the whole boy/boy thing weirded her out some, but she couldn't believe that was him. She had seen pictures of him on the Internet before. "You really did wake up with Shuiichi in your bed… could you… go to sleep with you're InuYasha Manga tonight?"

Erica didn't gratify that with an answer.

Out in the hall Shuiichi slowly moved away from the locker room doors, he would see the sign all the way on the other side of the gym to the boys locker room and start across it.

"Where are you going?" Mrs. Collins said to him.

"Um… I am… a boy." He said bashfully.

"Oh! I'm sorry, go over there, that is the boy's locker room." Mrs. Collins would blush and Shuiichi scampered off away from her. He would walk into the boy's locker room, only to be greeted by more jeering, the boys there also thinking that he was a girl. He didn't understand it! He didn't look like a girl! He was just pretty that was all. They wouldn't listen to him as he tried to explane that he was a boy. He would run out into the hall next to the boy's room, that led to an emergency exit. He sighed, no one would see him there, so he changed there, once changed he would lean against the door, sliding down to his butt. This place was so strange, he just wanted to go… home now.

"Shuiichi?" He looked up as Erica opened the door to the room; he was sitting there with his arms wrapped around his legs. He had that same sad look in his eyes that she had seen when he was in the living room. "Did you get changed in here?"

"They were mean to me." He said sniffling some.

"You went into the girls room." Erica said.

"But then the boys were mean to me too…" He said. "They thought I was a girl."

Erica clung to him as he sat there looking sad, he was supposed to be happy and bubbly, she couldn't stand him being sad!

"Alright let's get ready for laps!" Mrs. Collins called out.

"Oh boy! Lets run!" Shuiichi yelled jumping up and running out of the side hall. Erica blinked, seemed he couldn't make up his mind about emotions, but then again that was one of the things that she loved about his character anyway.

Erica was exhausted by the end of gym, trying to keep up with Shuiichi had proven near fatal as her asthma had kicked up and she had to rest. Shuiichi had stayed with her though until she was all right, apologizing, even though he hadn't done anything wrong.

Erica sat there dumbfounded as Shuiichi sat next to her zooming away at the computer. He was setting up a web site, HTML and all, like off the top of his head. Erica only had a couple of the Manga's and didn't know that Shuiichi was a computer geek, let alone knew how to turn one on. He was making a website for Nittle Grasper out of bordome, the teacher, Mr. McNiff was drawling on about something. Shuiichi couldn't help but think that he sounded stoned.

"Hey Erica." One of the boys that she didn't like said. "In Japan don't they finish school early, like when they are fifteen."

"Sixteen actually." Shuiichi answered for her, turning to look at the boy, who couldn't seem to keep eye contact with Shuiichi. It was like just making eye contact with someone that flamey might make him gay. He would then turn back to the computer. "And I graduated, so that is why I know all of this stuff already."

By the end of class he had some really nice work done. Satisfied with his work he would lean over, putting his head on Erica's shoulder. "I'm Hungry."

"Don't worry, Lunch is next block." Erica said as she blushed some from the fact that he was leaning on her. She tried not to let anyone else see; after all, he was supposed to be her cousin, not some rabid obsession.

"Don't touch the Chicken Quesidilla's or the Pizza." Erica warned him as they entered the cafeteria. Amy, who was trying not to stare at him, and Kaylie and Hayley, who thought he was adorable but nothing more, because they had not yet been entrusted with the truth, were with them. "What are we having today anyway Kaylie."

"Cheeseburgers and fries." She answered. Shuiichi's eyes got big, his mouth agape as he gasped in for air. He would turn and run off, as if running on air toward the lunch line.

"Cheesy burgers… and frenchy fries…" He sang doing the infamous Shuiichi happy dance that had Taylor in instant peels of laughter. The other's thought he was a riot too as they stood in line behind the dancing Shuiichi.

"It is funny that you are so obsessed with that Manga, and find out you have a cousin named Shuiichi too." Kaylie said laughing, Erica glanced over at Shuiichi, glad that he was too busy staring at the food all starry eyed to hear what she said.

"Yeah, I guess it is." Erica answered. They would get their food and find their table, Shuiichi eating his cheeseburger and fries as though he hadn't eaten in weeks.

"So… how's Bad Luck doing?" Hayley asked, she was sardonic, and unfortunately she had heard of Gravitation. Shuiichi blinked, he was about to answer when she started talking again. "Do you like Manga, I know Erica does, she has a lot of them."

"Hayley shut up!" Erica said kicking her numerous times under the table. He didn't understand why Taylor what getting so upset for.

"Um, Bad Luck is doing just fine… and… yes, almost all people in Japan like and read manga." He said softly. Now he didn't understand why this girl was looking at him like he was insane. He didn't realize that he looked like a crazed Gravitation fan that had just come home from Anime-Con, but that was because he didn't know anything about Gravitation.

"Your cousin is weird." Hayley said rolling her eyes. She just thought he was going along with the joke.

"Yeah, you're not so normal yourself." Erica hissed at her. Shuiichi would scoot over to Erica.

"Eh, it isn't home, but I guess I like this place." Shuiichi said resting his head on her shoulder again. She would again get a little wide eyed and blush. "Hey Erica."

"Yeah." She asked him.

"You gonna eat that?"

"In feudal Japan the head of the armies were known as the Shogun. He was the head of the Samurai, who were like the police of the Japanese and the only one that was above a shogun was the emperor." Mr. Macone said. He was just drawling on. Shuiichi blinked, they really didn't know anything around here did they?

"That's not true." Shuiichi said. He tossed the origami crane that he had made out of his work sheet down on his desk.

"Excuse me Mr…?"

"Shindo. Shindo Shuiichi." He said, not flipping his name to the Americanized way of putting your sirname last and your given name first. He would stand up.

"What isn't true?" Mr Macone would say. Erica looked over at Shuiichi.

"There were other Shoguns above shoguns." He said, he stood straight up with his hands flat at his sides, it was normal for Japanese schools, but everyone looked at him like he was a freak. "There was an honor system amongst the shogun in several area's, and if a higher ranking Shogun were to come into the lands of a shogun with less honor than the higher ranking shogun would stand above him."

"Sit down Mr. Shindo." Mr. Macone would say almost crossly. Erica was sitting there blinking at Shuiichi before she turned her eyes back to he sketchbook wondering what type of grave Shuiichi was digging himself this time.

"But… but sir… what you are teaching is wrong!" Shuiichi exclaimed. "I should know! I came from Japan."

"Sit down Mr. Shindo." The teacher repeated. Some of the meaner kids in class here now mocking Shuiichi, _I should know, I came from Japan_ they laughed, throwing a paper ball at him, he turned to look at the one that had thrown it.

"Shut up and sit down you gook!" The kids laughed. Shuiichi's eyes went wide and instantly the tears brimmed in them. It might have been a commonly used insult in America, but in Japan that was only said in the direst of insults.

"Mr. Terrio, to the office now." Mr. Macone said sternly. "Shuiichi… sit down!"

Shuiichi this time did sit down, he would pull the book up in front of him as the others jeered at him for crying.

"Leave him alone!" Erica yelled. "Just because he is different doesn't mean you get to pick on him!"

A few of the kids through a few insults at Erica before the bell rang and Shuiichi ran out of the room. Erica ran out after him but he was gone by the time she got out there.

"Shit!" She yelled. "Where did he go?"

Rather than going to Science she would go and try to find Shuiichi. Unfortunately, aside from being ancient, the school was also huge! She was running around everywhere. Math, the Café, the Gym, everywhere he had been. But she just couldn't find him. Short of standing in the main foyer and screaming his name she was running out of idea's to find him. Finally she would be running blindly down one of the halls, out of breath from running for the second time today when she slammed headlong into her friend Bruce. He was a big guy, six feet.

"Hey Erica." He said. He was her local source on Anime information, if there was anyone she could explain this too, it was him. She would pull him aside and explained it to him, at first he didn't really believe her, but he could tell that she believed it anyway.

"Listen." Erica said. "If you find him with me, you will see that it is him… and please… don't tell him about Gravitation."

Bruce reluctantly agreed.

"I need you to check the boys rooms." Erica said. Bruce agreed, finally finding him in the one by the gym. He was shocked to say the least to see him; there was no way that he thought that Erica was lying now.

"Konichiwa." Bruce said. It was some of the few words that were not x-rated that he knew how to say in Japanese. He would walk toward him.

"K… Kon…ichiwa." Shuiichi said bowing his head some to the other. Tears still streaming from his eyes, he had been sobbing when the other came in.

"Erica is looking for you. What happened?" Bruce said.

"The people in America are mean. And the teachers." He cried, burying his face in his knees again.

"Yeah, they can be." Bruce agreed, seeing as he wasn't model matriel he had seen how mean the kids could be.

"The teacher was telling them the wrong information and wouldn't listen when I corrected him, and then one of the kids called me… a… a…gook." He said the last word very softly because he didn't want to offend anyone.

"That's not right, but everyone isn't like that." Bruce said. Shuiichi looked up at the other and grinned soflty.

"Really?" Shuiichi asked.

"Well yeah, Erica isn't like that right? She's your friend right? And then me, I'm not like that." Bruce said.

"Thank you." Shuiichi said, he would stand up and hug the other, who took his finger and placed it against Shuiichi's forehead pushing him back.

"Right. Erica is looking for you." He said. Right, homosexuality wasn't as popular around America huh? He forgot. "You can hug her later, I think she would like that."

He would turn and walk out of the bathroom. Shuiichi just stood there blinking at him before finally, starting after him, meeting up with Erica in the hall.

"SHUIICHI!" She shrieked. "don'tdothat!IthoughtIlostyou! Wherewereyou!Don'tdothatagain!Youdon'tknowtheschool!Youcould'vegottenlost!"

She just kept going and going without breathing it all seeming like one word. She would run over and cling to him. She had been honestly afraid that she had lost him.

"Gomen." Shuiichi said softly hugging her back, sniffling some. "Can we go home yet?"

"Yeah, English is almost over, so we will leave when the bell rings." She said petting his head some, trying to console him.


	4. Home Again

(Home again - 4)

Shuiichi would come home with Erica. He was a little quieter; apparently his first day in America hadn't been what he thought it would be. The only time that he found his excitement again was when Erica's mom said they could walk down the street to Burger King and let them buy dinner.

Kate didn't really know what to do with the pair of them, they seemed to be getting along great, which was good, but where the hell were they going to put him tonight, her mother would never allow them all to stay in her house.

"Where am I sleeping tonight?" Shuiichi asked Erica.

"Under my bed, I will go to bed early tonight, and you can climb in my window since it is right by the porch and get under my bed. I will try and get you something to eat." Erica said.

"Is it always going to be this way?" Shuiichi asked. Taylor didn't have an answer for that. "Well if it is, I might as well enjoy it right?"

"Yeah!" They walked home slowly, talking about this and that. Erica wanted to hear all about the other members of Bad Luck, and all about Nittle Grasper, and all about Eiri Yuki since she had never read any of his books, and Shuiichi was perfectly willing to tell her all about it, even though it did make him a little home sick.

"Erica it is time to come in." Her mother said coming to the door, it was eight o'clock and her mother had given her a bit of time later than normal since she was just sitting on the back pouch with a friend of hers. She told her mom that she was going to walk him around the front of the house and then she would come in. When they went to the front she showed him her window by the porch and told him to just sit on the other side of the wall until she called him.

She had to wait a little bit before calling it a night, telling her mom that she was going to watch one of the anime's on tape that she had in her room before bed. She would have normally borrowed Gravitation from Kate, but it seemed somewhat… well… inappropriate. Instead she took DNAngel and told Kate what she was doing. Kate only agreed because she knew that the kid had nowhere else to go. Taylor went into her room and called Shuiichi in, who luckily didn't blunder coming in. At nine she would have Shuiichi hide under the bed and come out for a snack that she just gave to him since she didn't know if she would be able to feed him tomorrow.

(End the day - 4.5)

Eiri and Tohma had spent all day trying to find Shuiichi, and since he wasn't back by the time Eiri came home he was really worried now. Where was he? Was he hurt? He was such a little clutz, could it be that he had gone and gotten himself into real trouble. All of this and more in mind, he would finally curl up in bed and stare at the ceiling, unable to sleep all night.


	5. The 'Death' of Kumagorou

(The 'Death' of Kumagorou - 5)

"Erica …" Poke poke poke poke poke "…Erica?"

Erica pulled the covers over her head and grumbled.

"Erica …" Poke poke poke poke poke "…Erica?"

"Stop it." She growled.

"Erica …" Poke poke poke poke poke "…Erica?"

"Cut it out!" She said. "Go back to sleep Shuiichi.

"Erica…" Poke poke poke poke poke "…I'm not Shuiichi Erica?"

She sat straight up, almost screaming if not for the fact that Shuiichi covered her mouth before she could. Her eyes wide she looked at the person in her bed. He was sitting there, brown hair, blue eyes, fairly normal over all… other than the slightly enlarged panicked look in them.

"Kumagoro!" He cried out shoving the rabbit forward at her. "Mr. Bear!"

There was a muffled sound behind Shuiichi's hand that was supposed to be his name.

"Gotta let her go Shuiichi, can't breathy breathy if your hand is over her mouth!" He chirped coming forward and grabbing Shuiichi's hand and pulling it off of her mouth.

"Ryuichi!" She said. "Ryuichi Sakuma!"

"Told yah she knew all of us." Shuiichi said.

"Wow! She loves me!" He would throw himself forward and cling to her, knocking both of them off the bed in a flurry of blankets landing them both on top of Shuiichi. Singing: "She loves me… she loves me…really really loves me!"

Ryuichi let go of Erica and started to dance around the room, keeping the steady chant of love going. Erica simply stared at him in horror. At least Shuiichi had the common sense to know there was something wrong with this situation. She blushed realizing that she was still on top of Shuiichi and she would jump up and wrap up in the blankets. At least she knew that her mother was at work and Joe was dead to the world.

"Keep it down before your sisters not…" Kate stopped midword. "Oh god. Not another one." She said blinking at him.

"HI!" Ryuichi called out jumping at Kate, who fell on the floor. "Erica loves me… really really loves me!"

He would then release Kate and run into the house. Ryuichi was at least dressed in these light blue pajamas with bunnies all over them and he was clinging to Mr. Bear.

"Who are you?" Raven asked as she came around the corner running into Ryuichi.

"I'm Sakuma Ryuichi! Who are you?" He asked smiling brightly at the little girl. Erica watched in horror, needless to say her and Raven did _not_ get along at all.

"Sak…um…eechee?" She asked laughing he had a weird name.

"You can call me Ryu." He said, it must be hard for the English speaking child to say his name.

"I'm Cheyenne, but my mom calls me Raven because my hair was black when I was born." She announced.

"Raven! Like the bird? (singing) black bird black bird a raven is a black bird." He would dance a little while he was singing and Raven and Jaimey would just laugh at him. "You don't look like a Raven."

"I'm not a bird!" Raven shrieked giggling. Erica looked as if someone had just run their nails across the chalkboard.

"Do you like bunnies?" Ryuichi asked smiling.

"Mmhmm." Raven and Jaimey both said. "We got a lots and lots a bunnies."

"Lets play!" Ryuichi cried out running into their room with them following. Kate, Erica and Shuiichi just sat there staring at them.

"Did that just happen?" Erica asked.

"Uhuh." Shuiichi answered.

"I was afraid you were going to say that." Erica said.

"Cut it out and just let him play with them. I have to get them ready for school." Kate said rolling her eyes and ushing Erica and Shuiichi out of her way.

Once the girls were gone it didn't sate Ryuichi any, unlike Shuiichi who, while he was fun, he was a little nervous about all of this, Ryuichi wasn't at all afraid. It was like it was just another day in the life of Ryuichi Sakuma. They would watch TV, the On Demand feature had an entire station of Japanese Music, and Erica was enrapt watching Ryuichi and Shuiichi dance around the room singing along to music she didn't know or understand. Not that it really bothered her; after all she did listen to Bad Luck and Nittle Grasper.

Having Ryuichi there would really seem to cheer Shuiichi up some. At least it was something familiar. They would be having a blast, as Kate came back in.

"Erica school." She said. She didn't have an excuse for bringing Ryuichi with her. She needed to figure it out later. Erica was late and not even ready yet. They all rushed around. Erica gave Ryuichi a shirt that her granny had given her, it was something very pink and very girly that she would never wear, and told him just to wear his pajama bottoms with it. It was fashionable. Shuiichi would wear the same pants and a different shirt, one that was all black with Orco on the front of it. Refusing to relinquish Mr. Bear Erica finally broke and stopped trying to convince him to keep it at home.

Erica brought them both to school this time, meaning that it was twice as hectic as last time. She loved them both, but couldn't seem to let go of Ryuichi, who seemed to think that it was wonderful that she clung to him. Unlike Shuiichi who, other when he was feeling cuddly, really didn't know what to do when people clung to him. Ryuichi was so touchy feely that even Amy, who was getting more and more wielded out by all of them couldn't help but like him. He was infectious that way.

Lunch was by far the most entertaining, starting with Ryuichi standing on the table singing something about Spicy Marmalade, something that seemed strangely fitting seeing as they were about to eat. But she had no idea if it was fitting or not, she only understood those two words.

"Is that Ryuichi?" Hayley asked sardonically. Erica knew that this wasn't going to be good. "God Erica tell me that is not Ryuichi! Where are you getting all of them!"

"It's not my fault!" Erica wailed. "Besides, you would believe me even if I told you."

Erica walked over and grabbed Ryuichi by the shirt and pulled him off the table, some people booed, some cheered but most just ignored both of them.

"Food." She said.

"Food?" Ryuichi said thoughtfully. "FOOD!"

And with that he was gone again, bouncing across the café to where the lines were. Him and Shuiichi had gotten there before any of the foursome of girls. Ryuichi was playing with Mr. Bear, trying to get a cheerleader to talk to it. And She was doing her best to ignore him. It wasn't easy. Finally he would pout some.

"Fine." He said sticking out his tongue at her. "Mr. Bear didn't want to talk to you anyway!"

"_Shuiichi!_" Ryuichi whined looking at him. "You said they had _cheeseburgers!_"

"They had them yesterday." Shuiichi said.

By the time they got back to the table Erica looked over to see that the boys had done the big no no. Shuiichi had gotten pizza, and Ryuichi had gotten the quesedillas even though she had told Shuiichi not to get it.

"It can't be that bad!" Ryuichi said smiling at her as Erica finished reaming into Shuiichi about having gotten the forbidden food. He would take up a slice of the quesdeilla and bit into it. That smile would vanish, his eyes getting huge and his face almost turning green. He would swallow hard only because it would be rude to spit it out. "Ewwwwwww ICKYickyickyicky!"

Simultaneously Shuiichi's face turned the same way and he joined the chores of "ickyickyicky" with Ryuichi. He had bitten into the Pizza and found that it was also disgusting. So both of them went without lunch, by the end of the period Ryuichi was chewing on Shuiichi's arm muttering something about spicy marmalade.

And that was when it happened. Jesus (Spanish people think, hesus, only spelled with a j because it is Spanish not English) came over to the table.

"Who are your gay friends?" He said to Erica trying to sound cool, his friends laughed. "I mean this one has pink hair and that one is carrying around a stuffed bunny."

"It's not a bunny!" Ryuichi said standing up.

"Ryu, just ignore him." Erica whimpered. Jesus and his group of kids laughed at him.

"He is such a little faggot. What's a matter you little flaming queen can't you tell a stuffed bunny when you see one?" Jesus jeered.

"Queen? I am not a queen? I am a singer." Ryuichi said, his wide eyes confused, so far no one had been mean to him yet.

"Leave him alone." Erica and Shuiichi said in unison standing up. Erica looked like she was ready to kill someone and Shuiichi was just pissed. Even Erica was a bit shocked she had never seen Shuiichi pissed, upset, bit never truly pissed.

"Shut up you slut." Jesus said glaring at Erica. Amy was completely confused at what was going in, it all seemed to be happening so quickly.

"It's not a bunny!" Ryuichi announced proudly making the stupid error of shoving it into Jesus' face. "It's Mr. Bear!"

"You really are an idiot aren't you? Only a stupid faggot would name his rabbit, Mr. Bear." Jesus said. It all seemed to happen in slow motion, Jesus reached forward and grabbed the rabbit out of Ryuichi's hands.

Taken so by surprise it took a moment for Ryuichi to join Shuiichi and Erica in chasing Jesus when he took off running heading for the kitchen.

"KUUUUUUUMAAAAAGOOOOOOOROUUUUUUUUU!" Ryuichi screamed throwing himself forward, he was fast, and longer legged than Jesus, but Jesus was slick. Playing football with his friends had taught him a lot of dodging menuvours that kept him just one step ahead of the three of them. Between the people that had come to like Ryuichi yelling at Jesus, and those that thought he was annoying cheering him on, no one else joined the chase.

Jesus rounded the corner grabbing the wall so that he made a clean turn, unlike Erica and Shuiichi who skidded some before turning he went into the room. Ryuichi who now looked ready to kill someone did the same thing, rounding the corner with him. Jesus had run into the kitchen, he would skid to a stop hanging the bunny over a bucket of cleaning water.

"Careful." He said threatening to drop the bunny. Ryuichi skidded to a stop. His eyes wide and brimming with tears.

"No…" He whimpered. Jesus just laughed and let go of the bunny right as Erica tackled him. Jesus fell down and the two started to brawl, but that didn't save Mr. Bear from hitting the water.

Ryuichi screamed and lunched forward pulling the soaked, bleach covered rabbit out of the water.

"Kumagorou, Kuma…" He sobbed. Shuiichi pulled Erica off of Jesus who took off running again. "Kuma…"

Erica sat up looking at Ryuichi who was sitting cradling the bunny as though it were a dead child. The tears pouring from his narrowed eyes, he seemed to be completely without any of the normal insane cheer.

"Ryu, I'm sorry…" Erica said softly as she walked over to him. He didn't look up at her, just holding the bunny, finally he would slowly rise to his feet.

"Ryuichi? Mr. Sakuma?" Shuiichi said softly stepping forward. Erica stepped in and hugged Ryuichi, who didn't respond, he simply handed the rabbit to the advancing Shuiichi.

"Hold him." He said softly, he would wrap his slender fingers around Erica's wrists and pried her off of him. She just looked up at him like she was about to cry, he was scary like this, no wonder Shuiichi didn't talk for like… days. Ryuichi would walk out to the café where Jesus was laughing with his friends now that the danger was passed. He tapped Jesus, who was still talking, oblivious to the fact that his friends were just staring at Ryuichi, on the shoulder.

"What!" Jesus growled turning around right into the on coming fist or a pissed off Ryuichi.

"First off, I am not gay. A queen. A yoai. Or a Faggot. Second, Mr. Bear was my best friend. Third…" And he would come down and deck him again. He was pulled off of him by Erica, Shuiichi and Kaylie, and amazingly it was hard to do.

"He killed Kumagorou!" Ryuichi yelled the tears pouring from those cold eyes again. "He killed him!"

"Calm down Mr. Sakuma!" Shuiichi whimpered. "Please calm down."

They dragged him out of there before the teachers came in, bringing him to the forbidden teachers lounge to calm down. But he didn't. He had lost his spunk, and stayed that way for the rest of the day, but in Art, even Jesus didn't have anything mean to say to Erica.


	6. Ryuichi Sakuma has Left the Building

(Ryuichi Sakuma has left the building - 6)

"What do you mean that Ryuichi us missing too?" Eiri said. Again it was too damned early but that didn't matter, he didn't sleep.

"I mean just that." The ever-calm voice of Tohma responded. "He went home last night, I know because I dropped him off, and went I went to go pick him up this morning and he was gone."

"And no one knows where he went?" Eiri asked, he would sit up and light a cigarette.

"No. I asked the counter at the hotel and they said he never left his room." Tohma said.

"Come over Tohma, I need coffee so get some on the way, and we will go looking for them. Maybe Shuiichi and Ryuichi ran off together or something." Eiri said, he didn't like that idea at all.

"No, first off Shuiichi wouldn't leave you. Second Ryuichi may act it, but he isn't gay at all." Tohma said softly. He seemed hurt by all of this; Eiri assumed that it was because of how much he was worrying about Shuiichi. "Alright, I will be there shortly Eiri."

When Tohma arrived he came bearing breakfast and coffee. Eiri picked at his food, but he wasn't really hungry, he simply took a drag off of his cigarette and drank his coffee.

"You have to eat Eiri." Tohma said softly.

"No. I don't." Eiri answered. "Where could they have gone? This doesn't make any since."

"I don't know, but I am sure wherever they are they are together. It is very much like the both of them to just run off and play, I am sure they will stumble in here any moment now, drunk off adreniline and apologizing for not calling." It was a nice attempt, but it didn't cheer Eiri up any. He missed the little freak. He missed him walking in and yelling 'I'm home', or interrupting him in the middle of an important part of his book because he wanted attention, or pulling him out and making him get out of the house. Without Shuiichi here he didn't have the want or way to do any of that.

"I'm sure you're right." Eiri said, because it would make Tohma happier.

"What do we do now?" Tohma asked.

"We wait." Eiri answered.

"Eiri." Tohma said sitting next to him, to close. He didn't want to play this game right now. "You need to sleep."

"No. I don't." Same answer as he gave earlier about eating. "I need to have Shuiichi home."

Tohma moved a little away from him. He knew that had been a smack in the face to Tohma, but he had to know that just because Shuiichi was gone he couldn't move in on him.

"That wasn't what I was implying Eiri." Tohma said gently, looking away from the other. It did hurt to see that he hurt Tohma but he didn't really say anything about it.

"Really, than what was that." He said standing up.

"I am trying to be consoling!" Tohma yelled standing up. "After all it was you who threw yourself in _my_ arms in the office, I thought you wanted me to be understanding!"

Tohma was right.

"Don't touch me right now." Eiri said walking away and moving over to the fridge, opening the third twelve pack of beer he had drank tonight.

"You shouldn't drink so much." Tohma said.

"Why? Then you could take advantage of me if you wanted." The drunken Eiri would growl at him walking into the bedroom.

"I should go now." Tohma said, a tear falling from his eyes as he left.


	7. Resurrections

(Resurrections - 7)

"Ryu…" Erica said. Ryuichi was sitting on the floor in her room right now. He had his eyes closed. He opened them slowly to meet Eric's. "Ryu…"

"Leave me alone." He answered softly. Erica walked in and turned on her Play station. He might want to be left alone, but she wasn't going to leave him completely alone, she was worried about him. He watched it; she was playing Final Fantasy Seven. "I like Vincent."

"Hmm?" She asked looking at him. He wasn't happy yet, but at least he was interacting. "Yeah? I like Cloud."

"Tifa is hot." He said. Erica blinked at him, and he grinned at her softly.

"I wouldn't know." She said bashfully. Ryuichi came up and sat on the bed next to her, lying down so that his head was in her lap.

"I miss Kumagorou." He said softly, sniffling some. She would put the controller down and run her hand over his head.

"Me too." She said.

"Do you think Kate can fix him?" He asked.

"She said she'd try." Erica answered.

"Ok." He whimpered as she started to play again he just watched her. Finally she would stop playing. Running her fingers through his hair gently.

"You really gonna be ok?" She asked.

"No." He answered. Erica sighed, sniffling. He turned and looked up at her. His eyes getting all wide and sniffling.

"What?" Erica asked glancing around nervously.

"I am making you upset!" He gasped. Revelation of revelation, no one ever accused him of not being completely oblivious before.

"Wellyouareupset,andthatmakesmeupsetbecauseyouareupsetand thatissadbecauseIbroughtyoutoschoolandbecauseofthatMr.BearisgoneandI'msorry!" Erica wailed.

"It isn't your fault." Ryuichi said blinking.

"People here just don't understand you." Erica said sniffling.

"But you understand me?" What was that! A smile. Erica smiled too.

"Mmhmm" She answered.

"Ok! Than I am alright!" He answered, his eyes going wide again and he would hug her, kissing her cheek. She sat there, blushing like a fire as he skipped out of the room.

Before long Erica came out and Ryuichi was lying on the floor in the kids room playing with them. He had one of the Barbie dolls and was talking to one of Raven's Barbie dolls. Jaimey was sitting on his back trying to get him to roughhouse with her. Usually her sisters annoyed her, but even she had to smile, because it meant that Ryuichi was alright.

And side form that, one of the conditions of people being in the house is that they got along with the kids, and it seemed that Ryuichi was perfect in that category.

"Erica diner." Kate said. She was feeding all of them because her mother was working late tonight. "Lets hurry, mom will be back in an hour."

Erica looked around.

"Where is Shuiichi?" She asked nervously.

"He is out back, sitting on the deck." Kate answered.

Erica walked out and sat next to him. He had his knees drawn up and was sitting where Erica normally sat when she was drawing. He however, was writing. In Japanese, which sucked because now she had no idea what he was writing.

"Hey" He said as she came out. "What's up?"

"Nothing." She answered. "Diner is ready. Cheeseburgers."

"YAY!" Shuiichi yelled running into the house.


	8. Enter Eiri Yuki

(Enter Eiri Yuki - 8)

There was a distant beeping in the background. Eiri wondered how long ago it was that he had fallen asleep. He didn't mean to, he wanted to be awake when Shuiichi came home because he had a thing or two to say to the little… well there were a lot of colorful words coming to mind to describe him. But either way. What was with the beeping?

"Yuki?" The blackness started to give way to the blinding headache and longing to vomit that took its place.

"Go away Shuiichi, I have a headache, and shut off the alarm." He growled. Erica repressed the urge to shriek. He thought she was Shuiichi! How cute. Eiri turned over in his sleep, pulling the covers up over his head, but because he was used to having a king sized bed as opposed to Erica's little twin bed he would proceed to roll off of the bed, landing on the floor with an ouf!

Erica gasped, jumping out of bed, she had learned now how to sleep with clothes on. Shuiichi was right behind her, and Ryuichi was still sleeping, kicking his foot like a dog.

"Yuki!" They both gasped.

"Shuiichi in stereo." Eiri grumbled wondering how he had gotten so close to the edge of the bed and why there was no carpeting on the floor. Then it hit him… _Shuiichi!_ He would sit up, too fast too fast! Everything put into motion the hung over Eiri would cover his mouth not to vomit on the floor, those golden eyes looking up at the duo in front of him.

"Yuki!" Shuiichi whimpered. Eiri didn't pay any attention to the girl next to Shuiichi or the fact they were not at home. He could come to his feet and embraced Shuiichi.

"Where have you been you baka?" Eiri growled, but Shuiichi just melted into him.

"At first it was sooooo awful. People in America are so mean Yuki. But then Erica made it all better and somehow brought Ryuichi here, and then someone killed Mr. Bear… it was so sad. And now you are here… I missed you." Shuiichi explained, calmer than normal.

"I missed you too. Who is Erica?" He asked.

"Me!" Erica squeeked. Eiri would place a finger against one temple and his thumb against another. That squeek hurt. But not as much as:

"Eeeeeeeeirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" And Ryuichi would tackle him and Shuiichi to the floor.

"Get off!" Eiri growled pushing Ryuichi clear of himself. "You really need to call Tohma, he is worried sick about you. And where am I?"

"We are in America. Massachusetts." Shuiichi said proud that he managed to get it all right. It would be at that time that Eiri managed to get tackled again.

"Yuki-sama!" Erica said jumping on him. Again he was on the floor, this was getting old and fast.

"Off, off off off OFF!" Eiri growled, pushing Ryuichi and Erica off of him. He would then stand up and help Shuiichi up. "How did we get here and how to we go home? I have to apologize to Tohma for last night."

"Last night?" Shuiichi asked, his violet eyes getting suddenly very large and wet looking.

"No!" Eiri said rolling his eyes. "Nothing happened!"

"Is that why you are apologizing?" Ryuichi asked.

"No!" Eiri said again. "I fucking reamed him a new asshole when he didn't deserve it."

Erica was just sitting there watching the group of them. Shuiichi clung to Eiri, kissing him dispite the audience, Erica just blinked as Ryuichi tossed himself down on the bed next to her.

"Aren't they cuuuuuute." He said all dreamily. Erica looked over at Ryuichi and resisted the urge to say something completely corny.

"Erica I fix…ed…" Kate stopped staring at the pair of kissing males and Ryuichi and Erica sitting on her bed. "Wonderful, we have Eiri now. Erica can I talk to you… now."

Erica got all little, Eiri and Shuiichi broke off the kiss and looked at the woman standing in the door with a semi battered looking Mr. Bear in her hands.

"Kuuuuuumaaaagooooooorou!" Once again Kate met the floor thanks to Ryuichi. "He's better… white… er… and… battered… but it is still Kumagorou."

He would cling to the sitter who was still trying to catch her breath.

"Alright, take the rabbit and go on, I have to talk to Erica alone." Kate said getting up and giving Mr. Bear to Ryuichi who took him into the room talking to him like a long lost friend. Erica walked out and into Kate's room, which was right across the hall from her. "There are too many of them, sooner or later your mother is going to notice them, and what about Eiri, he looks like a grown man, he acts like a grown man, he is a grown man! He can't be staying in your bedroom, and your mother won't let him hang out with you… what are you going to do now?"

"I don't know!" Erica whimpered. "they don't have anywhere else to go!"

"Well they can't stay here. You have to talk to them. Now!" Sometimes Kate could be a complete pain in the ass! Erica growled and stormed out of the room, she didn't want to loose her room full of bishies! Damn it! She walked back into the room almost in tears. No sooner had she walked in than was her face grabbed and the serious looking Ryuichi had it.

"She wants us to go huh?" He asked softly. Erica looked into his eyes and nodded.

"It's alright. I have money, we can get a hotel room." Eiri had passed out fully dressed; he still had all of his credit cards.

"And you can come any time you want to." Ryuichi said softly kissing her forehead. She effectively… melted.

"Does that mean you guys are not going to school with me today?" Erica asked.

"I don't know. Eiri can't go can he?" Shuiichi said softly. "I don't want to be without him again."

Even Erica found it hard in her heart to argue that point. She sighed. She wanted them to come to school with her; it was the two of them, now three that had made school fun. She didn't want to be without them.

"What if he got a job there or something?" Erica asked.

"I have a job, I am certainly not looking for another one." Eiri said quirking a brow at her.

"Um, what if he is like… Shuiichi's… something from Japan." She was really trying. Shuiichi looked up at Eiri.

"I don't think that we can go back. I tried and tried to call you and someone else kept answering your phone." He would cling to Eiri's arm. "They said they didn't know who you were. At first I thought it was Tohma, but they got really mad at me."

Eiri took out his phone and opened it.

"No service." He said closing it. "Odd"

"Maybe you could get a job at the school… just until… you… figure out what is going on… something's gotta pay your bills right?" Erica said hopefully a skillful changing of subject.

"All right. I will try for now. But I am not staying." He said walking out of the room.

"Hello Eiri." Kate said as he walked out of the room.

"Bathroom?" Eiri asked coldly.

"Over there." With that Eiri would walk into the bathroom and Kate looked at Erica. "Did you talk to them?"

"Yeah, they are going to get a hotel, and Eiri is going to try to get a job at my school." Erica said. She was sad about them leaving, but she did smile thinking that he would be working at the school, wondering what it is that he would be doing.

Shuiichi walked out into the kitchen and sat down at the table. He seemed a little better than he had been, seeing Eiri had the effect on him. He loved Eiri, which only made it harder to even think about ever being away from him again. And Eiri had missed him, and admitted that he missed him, which was a first for Shuiichi really.

"Well then you better get ready before any more men mysteriously appear in your room." Kate said walking out of the kitchen to go tend to the girls who both wanted to wear the same dress and the minor argument had turned into a major blow out.

"She is angry?" Eiri said standing in the door of the bathroom. He looked like hell in some respects, but was still as attractive as ever. He had dark circles under his eyes from not sleeping enough, and that pallid look that you got when you were hung over, but other than that he was still pretty.

"A little." Shuiichi said softly. "It must be stressful for her to have all of us magically appear here, she has been hiding us from Erica's mother and Charlie."

Eiri nodded some as Erica went around getting them some breakfast. They all ate silently accept for Eiri, who instead of eating would get a cup of coffee and smoke a cigarette.

"I am going to have to get a car and try to find a place to live while you are at school with her." Eiri said softly. "I will apply at the school, but there is no saying I will get a job right away."

"But Yuki…" Shuiichi started.

"No Shuiichi. I need to get things ready so that we have things we need and I can't do that with you under foot." Eiri said sternly almost as if talking to a child.

"Under foot?" Shuiichi said, almost as if it hurt.

"That's not nice." Erica said glaring at Eiri some. "If you missed him so much you should be nicer to him."

"That's alright Erica." Shuiichi said as Eiri just stared blankly at her. "He's right. I would just be in the way."

Erica looked at Shuiichi doubtingly. It was one thing when reading a book to think that Eiri's cold demeanor was attractive, but she thought now that they were real they might be a little more loving together. That was silly, they hadn't changed any, they just came out of the book just the way they were. Sometimes though, she wondered why Shuiichi put up with Eiri.

"Erica." Ryuichi said coming out of her room. "My pants are stinky."

"Um…" Taylor said looking at him; she supposed that they would be, seeing as they had been wearing them for two days for Ryuichi and three for Shuiichi, who looked up as if he agreed with Ryuichi.

"Go see if anything of your mother's will fit them." Kate said ushing the girls through the kitchen. Lisa would stop and walk up to Eiri, Raven on the other hand stood clear of him, she thought he was kind of scary but Lisa wasn't scared of anyone.

"Hi." She said. Not flinching as Eiri's cold gold eyes looked down at her.

"Hello." He said flatly.

"I'm Lisa and I have to go to school." She said. "I am in the first grade, Miss Heart's class, Room 115."

He just blinked at her. Not knowing what to do when she hugged around his legs.

"You're so pretty!" She announced, Eiri looked up and then down at her again.

"Handsome Lisa." Kate said patiently. Lisa was a little slow, she had PDD, which was like autism, and couldn't really get all thoughts out correctly, talking more like a toddler than a child at times. "Boys are Handsome and Eiri is a boy."

She looked up at him and smiled. He couldn't help but smile back at her a little bit.

"You're so handsome!" And again she attached herself to his leg. "Do you like me?"

"I guess you're all right." Eiri said questioningly.

"You're so nice to me." She said running off to get her coat and bag on. He watched her go, not really sure what to make of her. He would grin softly and then take another drag off of his cigarette.

"You're sweet sometimes." Shuiichi said from the table. Eiri just huffed at him and sipped his coffee.


	9. Another Day At School

(Another Day at School - 9)

Shuiichi was a little subdued, he wasn't happy when Yuki and them parted ways by the school. Eiri promised that he would pick them up after school once he had a place to go.

Ryuichi had Mr. Bear with him again and he was much more careful now. Ryuichi was wearing a pair of vinyl pants that Erica had stolen from her mother, and Shuiichi had on an old pair of khaki capries that didn't fit her anymore and a brightly colored shirt, while Ryuichi had on a darker one.

School went about as well as expected, only the fact that Jesus wasn't there today seemed to make the day a bit nicer. Ryuichi had come into school angry, a little nervous for Mr. Bear's safety, but once it was seen that the jerk that had nearly killed Kumagorou was gone today he was back to his bouncy self.

It seemed that Ryuichi had gathered himself a group of sympathizers for his plea with Mr. Bear and was being dragged all over gods creation because everyone wanted to talk to him and tell him how sorry they were that Jesus had done that to him. How it wasn't fair and all of that, all things that really didn't bother Ryuichi because for the most part, the incident was already put in the past.

Erica was not happy. Shuiichi was the first to notice. She didn't seem to like Ryuichi's newfound popularity. He didn't get the chance to sit with them at breakfast, or in most of the first set of classes because of everyone pulling him around.

By lunch when he got dragged away she was downright pissed. HE was her friend; she didn't see any of these assholes jumping up to help him when his bunny was in peril.

"He doesn't know enough to tell them no." Shuiichi explained. "It is like when we were on tour, he didn't know enough to tell the fans no and it used to take us hours just to get down one hallway."

"I know… but…" Erica said pouting.

"Don't worry, it doesn't mean that he doesn't like you anymore. He'll be back." Shuiichi said softly. Sure enough, no sooner had he said that than did Ryuichi suddenly reappear. Sitting down next to Erica with a sigh.

"I'm back." Ryuichi said. Erica wasn't sure if she wanted to be happy about this or if she wanted to yell at him for ditching them all day.

"Ryu!" Erica whined clinging to him. "Youleftmealonealldayandwereofftalkingtoeveryoneelseanddidn'tcomeandsitwithmeandImissedyouandIwasalone!"

Erica said breathlessly.

"I was here…" Shuiichi said sadly.

"Shuiichi… I…" Erica said looking over at him, he just looked at her blinking a few times. She just looked down at the table trying to think of something that she could say, she hadn't meant it that way…

"So…" Amy said. "Sleeping with InuYasha yet."

"Amy!" Erica growled kicking Amy under the table. Everyone laughed, because they did know who InuYasha was, even though they didn't get the joke. They would talk then after that as if nothing was going on, but Shuiichi didn't. His feelings were hurt.

"SHUIIICHIII!" Ryuichi said cornering him in the locker room before gym, now that he wasn't going in alone he would get changed in there with him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He said softly. Ryuichi whimpered and looked at him wide eyed.

"Are you mad at me?" He said getting all little and whining, which attracted everyone else's attention. Shuiichi pulled Ryuichi to where they were not going to get jumped by the boys.

"No I am not mad at you." Shuiichi said.

"Are you mad at Erica?" He asked.

"No…" He said.

"LIAR!" Ryuichi said loudly.

"Shhhhhhhhh." Shuiichi said, again everyone was looking at them.

"You are! Because of what she said at lunch." Ryuichi claimed.

"It is just that…" Shuiichi looked away.

"She is still your friend too!" Ryuichi said softly.

"I know. It just hurt my feelings is all?" Shuiichi said.

"It is ok." Ryuichi whimpered clinging to Shuiichi. "I will talk to her."

"NO!" He cried out. "Don't talk to her, she will get mad, or sad with me."

"Ok. I won't talk to her then. But don't be mad."

"Ok. I won't. You're right. It is silly." Shuiichi meant it too. He almost sounded jealous, which was kind of silly. It wasn't like they were going out or something. They were just friends, and hell it wasn't like Ryuichi and her were going out or anything… Shuiichi looked at Ryuichi as he was getting changed. "Do you like her?"

"Yeah, she's cool." Ryuichi said.

"No I mean really." Shuiichi said.

"Um… I dunno. She's cool." Ryuichi said walking out to the gym.

Yuki picked them all up after school. He had gotten a car, and was sitting on the hood of it. Shuiichi ran out and was about to cling to him when Yuki put a hand against his chest keeping him from clinging to him.

"If you are going to be a student here and I am going to be a teacher, they can't see that we are together." Eiri said gently. Shuiichi just pouted and looked at him nodding. He might have been right, but that didn't make Shuiichi feel any better about it. Ryuichi and Erica came out a few moments later talking. Erica was carrying Mr. Bear, it was Ryuichi's apology for ignoring her all day, she got to hold on to Mr. Bear.

Amy, Hayley and Kaylie were with them when she came out, a few paces behind, as were some of Ryuichi's new fan club.

"Who is that with Pinky?" Amy said, in a swoony kind of voice. Erica just laughed seeing how little she liked the whole Yuki/Shuiichi gay thing. Pinky had come to be Shuiichi's nickname around school and it was fine with him. At least it wasn't gook or faggot. "What? What's so funny?"

"Nothing." Erica said walking over to them. "Hey Yuki."

"Yuki!" Amy said. "Ewwwww!"

"And what is wrong with me?" He asked turning those cold eyes to the little girl that was hyper enough that she wasn't standing still.

"Ahhh… eeee… um… you're… gay!" Amy stammered since he wasn't real and she would most likely never see him again she didn't feel too horrible admitting that. Erica smacked her arm and glared at her for being rude to Eiri.

"And you are?" Eiri asked.

"Amy Jones (Another unincrimidating name.)" She answered. Eiri chuckled.

"Well be my sexual orientation as it may, I think you should rethink your opinion of me, because as of today Mrs. Pasquarelli decided that she couldn't handle you little shits any more and I got her job, thusly, as of tomorrow, I am more than just gay, I am also your English teacher." Amy just blinked at him. First off, he was intimidating, second he just called her a little shit, and third… he was going to be her… teacher! But he wasn't real! She swallowed the urge to tell him that as Erica squeaked and clung to Eiri.

"Yuki! That is soooo cool!"

"Get off of me Erica." Eiri said calmly pushing her back away from him. He wasn't as tolerant of the rabid fangirl actions as the others.

"But if you are my teacher than I can't cling! So I must cling now!" She said clinging at him. Shuiichi just pouted.

"No. If I am not letting Shuiichi cling to me, I am not letting you either." He said.

"Did you find a place to live?" Ryuichi said. As he had just become Erica's clinging toy instead, but Ryuichi liked being clung to, so it didn't bother him any at all.

"Yes, it is right up the street from where Erica lives." He said softly.

"YAY!" Erica said running in and calling her mother. She was bad and lied to her, telling her that she was going over Amy's house and that she would be home at five thirty unless she was eating over. Her mother agreed and she would hop into the back seat of Yuki's car because Shuiichi was already in the front. Ryuichi hopped in the back with Erica and Yuki slipped in looking at Amy.

"Nice to meet you Amy." Eiri asked with a half sardonic grin as he pulled out and sped off. No sooner had he gotten off of school grounds than did he light a cigarette. "They didn't check my references because they couldn't understand anyone that they called. They were all in Japan."

Shuiichi giggled some taking one of Yuki's hands, just wanting to be able to touch him because today had been stressful enough.

(Eiri's Missing – 8.5)

Tohma was beside himself. Now Eiri was gone too! What was going on around here? He called the police and they said that all they could do was keep an eye out for him. No promises.

"K, I need to see you." Tohma said into the receiver of the phone. He would hang up the phone and shortly there was a knock at his door. "K, come in."

The first thing that K noticed was that Tohma looked like hell. He hadn't gotten any sleep after the fight with Eiri last night, then when he got there to make sure he hadn't drunk himself to death he was gone. Tohma was in a complete panic because if he had tried to leave and drive somewhere that drunk he could be… no he couldn't even think about that!

"What is it Seguchi?" K asked sitting down and crossing his legs.

"Shuiichi, Ryuichi and now Eiri are all missing." Tohma said. "I am most concerned for Eiri because he was very drunk when we parted ways last night and I am afraid he might have done something stupid."

"And what can I do?" K asked.

"Well the police told me that there was nothing that they could do. They would simply contact me if any of them turned up." Tohma explained, K nodded. "I know that you have some… contacts. Do you think that you have any that might be able to help us search?"

"I don't know. Let me call them and find out." K said walking out of the room. Tohma sat down at the desk and sighed, his nerves completely shattered.


	10. Go Play In Traffic

(Go Play In Traffic - 10)

They all piled up into the suit that Eiri had gotten for them. It was large enough to accommodate them and a few others.

"Just in case." Eiri had said softly. Erica loved it. No rules, no mom, no Kate, just her and her new friends. All of them were older than her, but she didn't care, she was happy!

"MARIO'S ALL SPARKLY!" Ryuichi yelled. Erica was playing the Super Nintendo that she had borrowed from Kate, telling her mother that she was taking it over to Amy's house. She had gotten a star, which made Mario glitter while he was running. Erica was so busy laughing at him that she ended up dying. "Awwww… make him sparkly Erica… sparkly sparkly MARIO!"

They had effectively been ignoring the cuddling gay couple over there, and just played the Nintendo, which was fine, it was alone time, at Erica saw it, with Ryuichi.

"Yuki!" Ryuichi yelled. "Mario's sparkly!"

"That's great." Eiri growled softly. He didn't want to talk to anyone right now. Little… erm… busy.

With that said Ryuichi went back to looming over Erica while she was trying to defeat the level, laughing so hard because he kept singing the Mario's Sparkly song. She just couldn't get over it. She still had Kumagorou, he was sitting in her lap, and Ryuichi said that he wanted to watch the game so he could stay there for now.

There was a knock on the door.

"FOOD!" Ryuichi yelled running to the door and pulling it open, he took the pizzas from the delivery and skipped back into the room. "Yuki. Money!"

"Yeah yeah yeah." Yuki said, dislodging himself from a cuddling Shuiichi to come to the door and pay the man. They came in and sat down, eating pizza and talking. Even Eiri seemed to be getting into a friendlier mood now that he was sure he had a stable situation.

"You! Leave!" Eiri growled at Ryuichi, he stopped kissing Shuiichi and glared at the other.

"But… why!" Ryuichi whimpered.

"Because I can't do this with you looming over us!" Eiri growled at him.

"I am not looming." Ryuichi pronounced as he was squatting quite literally on the edge of the bed, staring at them. "I am bored."

"Well you are not joining!" Eiri growled.

"Ewww! No!" Ryuichi squeaked.

"Well than leave! Go play in traffic or something!"

Erica was laying in her room, singing along to the CD she had of Nittle Grasper and Bad Luck music as Ryuichi snuck up under her window.

"She's pretty good." Shuiichi said sitting there. He was leaning against the wall under her window. He just sat for a little bit thinking. He missed home some, but that was all right, this was a new adventure right?

She didn't know all the words exactly, but she had asked him to teach her Japanese, and he had, with Eiri's help agreed that he would. Then she would know what she was singing and the exact way to sing it. Then, maybe he would ask her to be a back up vocalist when she got older. Too bad he didn't realize that Nittle Grasper didn't really exist here.

When she stopped singing he would look in the window, she was gone, maybe she had gone to the bathroom, but he took that moment to climb in the window and was sitting on the edge of her bed when she came back in.

She jumped almost screaming before she realized whom it was sitting there.

"Ryu, what are you doing here?" She asked softly.

"They kicked me out." He said shrugging. "They say I needed to go play in traffic."

"Awe, that is so mean!" Erica said softly.

"No. There were gonna…" He looked around and whispered… "Do it…" Blush.

Erica saw him blush and laughed. She just shook her head.

"What are you blushing for?" Erica asked laughing. She would turn off her music and lay back on the bed. Ryuichi sat there talking to her until the both fell asleep. Erica woke up that morning and looked over, she couldn't help but smile seeing Ryuichi sleeping calmly next him.

"Hey." She said softly brushing his hair out of his face. He didn't wake up; he just squirmed a little bit and settled back down. Glancing around she saw that there were no more men in her bed, only Ryuichi. The alarm hadn't gone off yet, but she could hear her mother moving around getting ready for work. She would pull the blankets over Ryuichi to cover him and get out of bed to go to the bathroom. She got detained talking to her mother, and it took her almost a half an hour to come back in.

When she came back he was sitting up, with her blanket wrapped around his shoulders. When she first walked in he had a very serious look on his face, but as soon as he saw her, his child like demeanor came back and he would wave at her, all elated like!

"Are you going to school?" Erica asked. Ryuichi nodded, he was holding Mr. Bear to his chest and her sketchbook sat next to him opened to the page with Mr. Bear on it.

"It is really good." He said softly, looking out the window and then smiling. "Really, really good."

"Is something wrong?" She asked gently.

"No." He said, those wide green eyes looking at her, a smile on his lips as he brushed his dark hair out of his eyes. "Nothing at all, why do you ask?"

"You just looked, all, like something was wrong when I came into the room." Erica said sitting next to him. She would tuck her feet up under her. Ryuichi smiled and then just shook his head.


	11. Yuki Sempai

(Yuki Sempai - 11)

Eiri picked her and Ryuichi up at Erica's house at a little after eight, he looked really professional like with his suit on and his hair fashionably tussled as always. Shuiichi looked tired, like he hadn't gotten much sleep last night. Erica said nothing about what Ryuichi said to her when he first got there.

"I was worried about you." Shuiichi said softly.

"I fell asleep." Ryuichi said grinning broadly. He would slip into the back seat and buckle his safety belt, strapping Mr. Bear in, in the middle. Erica got in next to him, or rather next to Mr. Bear. She didn't say anything actually, she was sleepy. "And I really don't think you had much time to be worried."

Shuiichi blushed, Ryuichi's words were good hearted, he meant no harm, and he was only playing. He would look over at Erica and smile then back out the window. As Taylor started to giggle and eventually laughing, causing Eiri to glance at her, making her only laugh harder, Shuiichi… tried to hide as best he could.

Once they arrived Eiri went to the office where he was to meet up with the principal before he started working. Erica, Shuiichi and Ryuichi would go down to breakfast. Once again every one tried to pull Ryuichi away, he would go with them for breakfast, promising that lunch would be spent, at least mostly with Erica. She seemed all right with this and Shuiichi was after all there to keep her company.

The first class was English, which is what Eiri would be teaching. Everyone seemed a little off of their mark when they walked in and instead of that normal bitch of a teacher; they were walking into the tall, sleek and sexy Eiri Yuki. He was standing in the front of the room; one hand in the pocket of his slacks and the other was writing on the board.

"Who are you?" Mark asked. He had been the boy that had called Shuiichi a gook on the first day of school. Eiri's golden eyes slowly moved over to him, as if he shouldn't have spoken without being called on, which was _exactly_ why he was looking at him.

"I am Yuki Sempai, or rather, here in America I would be Mr. Yuki." He said softly. "I am you new teacher as of today. Now, I would appreciate it if you would all sit down and be quiet unless you are called on."

"But class hasn't started yet Mr. Yuki." Mark complained. He looked as though he were ready to fight until Eiri's cold golden eyes locked on his, and then suddenly he wouldn't be so bold. It was as if his void like eyes had sucked out all ability to fight him.

"Are you in my class room?" He asked. The rest of the room had fallen into silence.

"Yes." He answered.

"Than you have entered class, and you will abide by the rules of this classroom." He said. Even Erica hadn't expected that he would be this tight with the rules. He would sit down at the desk and look over the attendance sheet.

"I expect a yes if you are here. Plane and simple, if you do not respond you will be marked absent." He said coldly as he started listing off the attendance sheet to see who was present.

"Oh great just what we need, more Japs." Jesus growled, Ryuichi glared at him. "First that pink haired brat, then the faggot with the bunny, and now, a Jap teacher, just what this school needs."

Eiri's eyes rose to meet Jesus'.

"Have you something to share with the class Mr. Rayes?" Eiri asked coldly.

"Yeah, are you from Japan?" He asked boldly.

"No. Actually I was born here in America and spent most of my youth over seas in Japan." He said coldly. "My back ground and race has little to do with this class."

"How is it that someone from Japan can teach English?" Mark said, emboldened by Jesus' stupidity.

"The actual title of this class is Language Arts, which even the Japanese have classes on. And that is what I am teaching you. As you can tell, I speak English as well as the next American, if not, in some cases, better." Eiri said softly, a sardonic smile taking those pale lips.

"What are you sayin'?" One of the kids growled.

"I am 'sayin'' that you need to speak properly. I am also sayin' that there are three detentions for Mr. Terio, Mr. Rayes and also you Mr. Brown." Eiri said.

"For what, asking your race?" Jesus growled.

"That is two for you Mr. Rayes, and no, it is for speaking without lifting your hand. Shall we continue?" No one said anything, rather they all sat there staring at him as if he walked right out of some horror flick. His over all demeanor had a very bad ass air to it. "Good, Miss Smith, what is it that we were working on?"

"Poetry Yuki Sempai." Erica announced. Some of the kids glared at her as if she were kissing his ass.

"Really?" He asked, she resisted the urge to go 'no, not really, I am lying' which was what her step father did all the time when someone said that. Eiri would open the filing cabinet and go through the curriculum and rolled his eyes. "No wonder grades in this class are so dismal, these poets are dull as tombs."

"So, are their any poets that you like?" He asked glancing over the room.

"Edgar Allan Poe." Erica announced.

"A good poet but a bit macabe." He said nodding.

"Robert Frost." Another one announced.

"Also a very good poet. I particularly liked The Road Less Taken." He said nodding and smiling at the girl who blushed some. In the short time that he had been there Erica had almost forgotten how charming his smile was over the fact that he was being a complete asshole.

"Now, here is a question. How many of you listen to P. Ditty?" Eiri asked, holding up a CD.

"Me, and that is mine!" London said holding up his hand.

"Well Mr. Burton, it would seem that you shouldn't be listening to it during class." Eiri said looking at him. A few others raised their hands. "Now did you realize that P. Ditty is technically a poet?"

Everyone looked at each other.

"Hmm, and what about this one? Marilyn Manson? How many of you listen to Marilyn Manson?" Again there was a show of hands. "Yes, also a poet. You see, Lyricism is very akin to poetry. Now, I would like each of you to come up here and pick a CD. I have made sure that all of them have their lyric sheets. I would like you in groups of three to go through the lyrics and find the poem, or song, that touches you the most from that band. Or, if you have one of your own you may use it. Now, please split up and come up and pick a disk…"

"Yuki Sempai." Erica said raising her hand. She waited for a moment until Eiri pointed to her. She would stand as she was speaking as she had seen Shuiichi do his first day there. "May I go to my locker?"

"Why?" He asked now giving her his undivided attention.

"I would like to get my CD's from my locker for this assignment." She answered.

"Very well. Be quick."

She ran out of the room and to her locker outside of her homeroom. She would return to the class moments later carrying a large CD book.

"Erica! I am working with Erica!" Ryuichi announced escaping from the encircling of people that wanted to work with him to walk over to Erica, dragging Shuiichi with him. Erica gave a slightly triumphant smile and moved over sitting at her desk with Ryuichi and Shuiichi.

"Alright, now that we are all split up, we will be reading the selection out load to the class in twenty minutes, so get a good feel for the rhythm of the poem. Please note that we will not be singing or rapping the pieces, we will be reading them as if they were a work from Poe or Frost." Eiri explained, he would move over and walk around the class, making sure that everyone was doing what they were supposed to. Even telling Erica that she needed to quiet down, and no he wouldn't make an exception for the three of them for singing.

Erica chose to read "My December" By Linkin Park. Shuiichi who couldn't figure out what to do decided to use one of Bad Lucks songs that he went up and had Eiri quickly translate for him because he was really bad at translating Japanese to English, he chose Glaring Dream, and Ryuichi decided to go for something so completely unlike him that it shocked everyone, Breaking the Habit, by Linkin Park.

Gym was pretty much the same old song and dance. Ryuichi, Erica and Shuiichi were jogging, followed by Ryuichi's growing Otaku (group of rabid fans).

"That was scary Ryuichi." Erica said. Ryuichi looked over at her and pouted. "No no, it was good, but… you were… so… serious."

"It is a serious song. With serious subject matter, I would have done the writer no justice if I didn't act serious reading it." He said smiling at her, easily whipping away the serious look and eyes that bored into your soul that he had used when reading the piece.

"I think you were one of the best readers Ryuichi." Amy said from behind them. Erica glared a bit at her, she had a feeling that Amy sort of might have liked Ryuichi a little, and Erica wasn't having any of that.

"Thanks" He said smiling brightly, completely oblivious to the looks that were passing between the friends.

Erica was a little upset at Lunch. Ryuichi had promised that he would sit with her, and he had been immediately dragged away by his otaku as soon as he came in. She would sit at the table.

"You like him huh?" Shuiichi said looking at her, violet eyes wide and innocent as always.

"Well… um… no… I mean… don't tell him!" She squeeked looking at him. He didn't seem as dejected at being ignored today, it was as if the revilation that she had the hots for Ryuichi made him understand why she had ignored him that day.

"It is ok. I won't." He said smiling some at her.

"RYUICHI!" Erica finally belted out.

"ERICA!" She heard return from a group of people that usually shunned her. That was where he was, sitting with the cheerleaders. Wonderful.

She would pout again and go back to eating. Suddenly she would be grabbed around the waist and carried over to where Ryuichi had been sitting. Getting a few glares from his otaku she would just grin at them nervously.

"Sit." Ryuichi said sitting her down next to him and talking to them. "Anyway, like I was saying…"

"Ryu?" Erica said a few moments later, he stopped talking and looked at her smiling, showing that he was not at all annoyed by her inturruption. "My lunch?"

She had just meant that she had left it at the table and was about to get up to go and get it when he would suddenly get up and run over and grab it, smiling at Shuiichi and putting it down, no sooner had he sat down than did he frown, everyone looked at him trying to figure out what was wrong.

"That wasn't nice…" He said looking at Mr. Bear. "I know you are right."

He would hand Mr. Bear over to Erica and get up, grabbing Shuiichi the same way that he had Erica and then grabbing his lunch, yes he can be taught! He would walk back and frown, not enough seats, Shuiichi's lunch would be placed in front of Erica, Erica's scooted out of the way, and he would grab Erica with the free arm, and sit Shuiichi in Erica's seat and then sit down, placing Erica in his lap.

"There!" He said smiling proudly. As if he had just placed the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle.

From that point on, he just took Taylor with him when his otaku dragged him around, and the one time they said they didn't want Erica there, Ryuichi left too.

After Lunch was Science, due to a shortage of teachers all of the teachers were currently teaching two subjects. Eiri had gotten the Language Arts that he wanted, and also somehow they thought he was suitable to teach science as well. So Erica would move into the room, wondering if science would be as interesting as English had been, to her dismay all she was told to do was read certain pages, answer certain questions for class work, and others for homework, along with a workbook assignment. She didn't like that at all, it was dull and being one of the smarted kids, she was finished first.

She ended up tutoring Shuiichi who was having trouble understanding the difference from the Japanese word for a bone to the English word. She ended up giving Shuiichi her notebook, telling him if there was a wrong answer, which she doubted there would be, he could comment on it and she would work it out with him. He was very relieved that Erica had helped him. Ryuichi just stuck his nose in the book and didn't pull it out until he was done.


	12. Tohma

(Tohma – 12)

Erica would move over to her bed, by the time she got home she was exhausted, she had stayed up to watch her Gravitation tapes and finally fallen asleep. She hadn't slept like that in a while, after spending two hours straight dancing around the hotel room with Shuiichi and Ryuichi she just felt as though she were dead. So when she woke, feeling as if someone was looking at her, she thought for sure that Ryuichi was there again and Eiri and Shuiichi must be… busy again.

"I have a question." A cool voice came. Not icy like Eiri's, more smooth and no less intimidating. "Who are you and why am I here."

She sat up quickly, her eyes attempting to focus in the dark on the small figure that was sitting in a chair near her door. The chair had been a new addition, and she was barely used to having it there, let alone having someone sitting in it.

The bed next to her was warm as if someone had been sleeping in it before now, and she was secretly glad it wasn't K, the idea of waking up with a gun barrel to her head was unsavory at best.

"Um… I am Erica, and I don't know how you got here." She said looking, her eyes focusing on the small slender figure. The blonde hair was more noticeable. TOHMA! Oh gods, and she didn't have anyone here to hand him over too. She suddenly started to sweat coldly. She didn't want to be alone with him.

"I assume than that you know where Eiri, Shuiichi and Ryuichi have gone than." That voice still cold as ice and smooth as silk.

"Um, actually yeah. They came here, and right now they are at a hotel room." Erica answered, hoping that was the right answer. She didn't necessarily feel the need that she had to like him, or that he had to like her, but she knew that he could stress her already tender relationship with Eiri if he disliked her. He was the quote unquote bad guy. Her lip was drawn between her teeth.

"And they are safe?" He asked, his blue eyes were now seen, emotionless at the moment, like it was when he was angry. Definitely Tohma.

"Yes." She answered swallowing hard. She would reach over next to her bed and grab the phone, calling the hotel.

"Mmmmmmm." The sleepy voice of Shuiichi answered the phone.

"I told you not to answer it." Eiri growled, also sounding sleepy.

"Shuiichi." She stammered. It was only four a.m. and she was confused. "Can I talk to Eiri?"

There was the sound of the pair of them fighting and finally Eiri would be put on the phone. "What do you want at four in the morning Erica?"

"I have a problem."

"Than fix it." Eiri growled.

"I am trying!"

"What kind of problem?"

"Well it is about five foot six inches tall and it has blonde hair and blue eyes, and it is staring at me!" She said. Tohma never flinched, legs still crossed, arms in his lap, just watching her coldly.

"Tohma?" Eiri said. Shuiichi grumbled a complaint that told Erica that Eiri had just gotten up. "I'll be right there."

The line went dead. Great! He would be right here? But what was she supposed to do with Tohma until he got here. The man continued to just look at her, and she just sat there looking at him back. Finally she broke the silence.

"Eiri is coming." She said. Tohma blinked slowly at her. "So could you maybe stop staring at me now."

Tohma honored that request by getting up and walking out of the room. It didn't take him but a minute to find the door and a minute more to be outside of it. She would get up, going into Kate's room and waking her up.

"I have to get Tohma over to the boys." She said.

"Again? I thought you ran out of them." Kate answered'

"Yeah, me too."

She would get dressed and go outside to a sight that would have turned Shuiichi's blood cold.

"I was so scared…" Tohma's voice sounded. He was at the moment curled into Eiri's arms, lying against his chest.

"I know Tohma. I am so sorry for what I said to you…" Eiri responded softly. So much more emotion than she was used to seeing, he didn't seem that affectionate with Shuiichi.

"It is alright, you had too much to drink. I forgave you before I even made it to my car. I wish I had never left." Tohma said.

"It would've happened anyway, Shuiichi was taken right out of my bed." Eiri said running his fingers through the white blonde hair of the other. Erica resisted the urge to say something.

"And Mr. Shindo is well?" Tohma asked, his tone of voice changing.

"Yes, and Ryuichi is well too." Eiri responded.

"That is good." Tohma would murr gently, resting his head once more against Eiri's chest.

"Come on lets go." Eiri said.

"You want me to come?" Erica asked.

"If you want to." Eiri said, and with that she would climb into the car. If she wanted to? When didn't she, even at four thirty in the morning?


	13. Someone's Sleeping in My Bed

(Someone's sleeping in my bed – 13)

By the time they arrived at the hotel it was almost four forty five. Erica would move up the stares in a haze, Eiri and Tohma would talk idly as they moved behind her. They seemed close, Erica had never been fond of Tohma's character so she never really paid attention to the little things, like how close Eiri and he actually were.

She would go to the nearest bedroom when she got there. Not paying attention as Eiri moved Tohma over to a room, he seemed awful quiet, as if he knew something was not right.

Eiri would get him set up in another room, while Erica came to rest in a large bed, with blue and white covers in smooth cool satin. It only took her a moment before she was suddenly engulfed by a set of warm arms, someone curling up against her back. Suddenly the entire world got warm.

It wasn't until noon or so the next day that she understood why that had happened. She would open her eyes slowly, her hands coming to the hands of the arms around her. Clutched between her belly and his hands would be a small stuffed rabbit. Kumagorou. Her eyes opened wide as she realized she had invaded Ryuichi's room, and in his sleep he hadn't pushed her away, rather he had sort of claimed her.

Ryuichi's breath was drawn warm against the back of her neck, the steady inhale and warm exhale would tell her that he was still sleeping. Erica allowed her own eyes to close for a moment, trying to see what it must look like to someone else, finally she would squirm until she was able to face him. Just looking at him, he seemed so much like an angel when he was sleeping. Erica couldn't take her eyes off of him, just watching him, it took her almost five minutes of staring at him before she realized that his eyes were open and those familiar blue orbs were staring back into her own eyes.

"Oh!" She gasped. He just smiled and pulled her tighter against him. A little slow to rise, he would find his energy soon enough, for now she would enjoy the calm warmth that was Ryuichi.

"When did you get here?" He asked softly, swallowing, trying to get the fluids moving in his mouth again.

"I don't know. Early in the morning. Tohma is here." She said.

"Tohma." He said smiling and clutching her tighter, she wondered for a moment if he thought that she was Kumagorou the way he was cuddling her. "That is good."

"Is it?" She asked, she didn't think it was so good, her own arms would loop hesitantly around his waist, he didn't pull away, rather he would adjust his body so she could get an arm under him.

"Mmhmm." He said softly. "It is, because now Eiri can say he is sorry."

His memory was better than hers was. Only now that he had said that did she remember that part of that encounter that had her ready to kill Eiri as if he were cheating on Shuiichi, he had said when he first came that he had to apologize to Tohma for something.

"He did." She said softly, her head pushing up under his chin, just inhaling the smell of mango and vanilla that came from him. An odd coupling of scents but some how fitting.

"Good." He said pulling back so that he was looking into her eyes. A small smile on his lips. "So how did you end up in my bed?"

"Just lucky I guess." Erica said, the color spreading through her cheeks as she said it.

"Yeah I guess so."

Her breath was struck out of her when he tilted his head and pressed his soft lips to hers. The motion was quick, and over almost as fast as it happened, leaving her to wonder if it even had. Ryuichi would slip out of her arms and out of the bed, shivering against the cool in the room as he moved towards the bathroom.

Moments later the shower started.

She didn't really start to blush until he was gone, it would have to be amounted to shock. She had sat up and was sitting cross-legged on the edge of the bed when Ryuichi came out of the shower.

He would move past her with a smile, not to different from the same ones that he had given her a million times before, and yet, she would still blush when she saw it, as if it suddenly held a whole new meaning. Vanishing into his closet he would appear shortly there after garbed in some things that Eiri had been nice enough to by him. He was wearing pair of black jeans and a white silk shirt that at the moment, simply hung over his shoulders.

"Suddenly so quiet." He said with a playful chastising in his voice. She didn't say anything, she just sat there blinking at him, a million things running through her head, and yet none of them managed to find her lips. Ryuichi sat down next to her and canted his head some. Her silence did nothing to ease his own anxiouty, not that anyone could see his anxiety, never would have known. Rather that smile slowly vanished and was replaced by a pout.

"Did I… I mean did you not want me to…" He wasn't sure if maybe he had gotten his wires crossed. Had she not wanted him to do that, Shuiichi had seemed so sure that she liked him. Maybe Shuiichi had been wrong. His bottom lip was slowly drawn in between his teeth and his hand searched finding Mr. Bear and holding him. Ryuichi might have been popular, both here and at home, with a swarm of otaku constantly all over him, but he didn't really have too much experience with understanding or wooing women, he was a little too childish for that most of the time. A little too… oblivious to read body language or the underlying message behind what someone was saying.

Since no words could seem to be formed from her brain to her lips she would instead move forward and encircle him with her arms again. Pressing her head under his chin. He would smile some and hold her as well. Maybe she couldn't say anything, but it seemed that Ryuichi had gotten the message as he softly kissed the top of her head, his head resting against hers.


	14. Happy Saturday

(Happy Saturday – 14)

The first day of the weekend with the cast of Gravitation. The hotel was getting a little crowded, between Tohma and Eiri and Shuiichi and Ryuichi and Erica. But it was all right with Erica because her mother thought that she was spending the weekend with Amy.

"I don't know where anything is." Tohma complained to Eiri who was sitting drinking his coffee and smoking a cigarette. "There are things that we need, and I should get for us, but I don't know where anything is."

"I do. What do you need?" Erica asked. She might not like Tohma but she was now in a damned good mood. Ryuichi was standing behind her smiling brightly as usual. Or brighter, it was hard to tell.

"What don't I need?" Tohma responded.

"Well I can take you to the mall." She said smiling at him. The urge to tell him that her birthday was coming up was resisted as she looked on.

"I can go?" Ryuichi asked.

"No." Tohma said. "Eiri needs you here for something. He said he wanted to talk to you."

Eiri would look up at Ryuichi and nod at him. Ryuichi in turn would pout and walk over sitting next to Eiri. Tohma smiled a shallow smile at Erica as he started walking toward the door. She would follow him.

"First thing I need is a car." He said as he moved down the street to the first of three or four car dealerships. His card was accepted without a problem, something Erica had been worried about, but she knew that she shouldn't be, after all they took Eiri's card for the hotel room. He would buy a slick black car, something like a Jaguar, with a lot of trunk space and speed behind it. The fact that it had a standard transmission didn't mean anything to Tohma.

"Well if you go up here and get on the highway than we will be able to get the mall." Erica said softly. She was a little nervous with Tohma still, he seemed to be the one that would figure out the truth first if it killed him. He also drove at top speed whenever possible which didn't ease her mind any… to nervous to think it was fun right now.

Once at the mall she found that Tohma was at the very least generous. He offered her several items when they went, he didn't mind really. Erica talked a lot and it helped him get accustomed to where he was. He got Eiri a computer for writing, himself a keyboard set up, and Ryuichi… clothes because the poor boy was milling around in all the same clothes day after day, he only had a couple of outfits. At Erica's behest he would also pick up some clothes for Shuiichi. He got her a laptop computer, and a few other things that she wanted. She never had to ask him for anything.

But it would be at Harrison's Comic Stop that the trouble really started. For the sake of all their sanity Tohma stopped here to get some mangas for Ryuichi, something to keep him still for an hour or two. Erica bounced around looking at them, but the obvious never really struck her. Not until she looked up and noticed Tohma looking at a book, his blue eyes wide with shock. Her heard fell and she read the title. Gravitation!

She tried to take it away from him, but he dodged her easily.

"What is this?" He asked her, his eyes could eat through her soul. "Is this… is this real?"

"Yes." She answered softly.

"But how can this be?" He asked advansing on her; she backed away like a struck dog. People were starting to glance their way.

"I don't know. But it is true." She said softly, instantly the tears started to well up in her eyes, afraid that Tohma would tell everyone and their happy little world would fall apart. "You came out of that book. Well not that one, the one in my room."

"I need to sit down. Charge these." He said handing the man his card and signing the paper before stepping outside of the mall and sitting on the bench. His head reeling. Erica gathered the things from the confused man and joined Tohma.

"Please don't be mad." She said biting her lip.

"Tell me that Eiri doesn't know this?" Tohma said his cold blue eyes freezing her in their gaze. The words couldn't come out so she just shook her head, wishing desperately that Ryuichi was there to protect her.

"Good." He answered.

"What?" She gasped. "What do you mean good."

"Eiri would be in the hospital coughing up blood from his ulcer again if he were to stress himself out over this. I think it would be best for both of us not to tell him."

"Don't you think he had the right to know?" Erica asked.

"No. I don't." Tohma said standing up. "So, I promise, your secret is safe with me."

He would move back into the mall and finish buying what he needed. Erica's spirit seemed to be a little broken now, the bouncy elation from Ryuichi kissing her seemed so far away now. Seemed like years since that happened. Her eyes would close and she would sigh. Milling through the motions until Tohma was finished. Once everything was loaded into the car Tohma would look over at her, seeing that she had lost all of her fire.

"You don't believe me do you?" He asked.

"What?" She asked, falling out of her trance.

"You don't trust that I will keep my word and not tell the others." Tohma stated.

"Not really." She answered. Tohma's blue eyes narrowed on her and he would slam the car into gear peeling out. They drove home in complete silence.

Once back at the house Ryuichi was a little confused. He thought that they would be happy, Tohma liked going shopping, but instead he stormed in and told Ryuichi to go help Erica with the 'shit in the car'.

"What's going on?" Ryuichi asked walking up behind Erica who was staring blankly into the trunk of the car. He would wrap his arms around her waist and press a moment's kiss to her shoulder. "Why is Tohma so angry?"

"I don't know." Erica answered. She wasn't lying either, she didn't honestly understand what she had said that pissed him off. She wasn't a very trusting person, so the fact that she honestly told him that she didn't trust him, never crossed her mind as what could be the issue.

"Yeah I thought you two were getting along." Shuiichi said from behind them. She felt Ryuichi let go of her and turn to see who was talking before running a comforting hand over her back. "Oh! Do you two wanna be…"

"No." Ryuichi said as brightly as ever. Not a bit bashful. He would smile brightly to Shuiichi who had seemed to just get the drift, and then he would smile just as bright to Erica who he started to help unload the car. Now addressing her. "Don't worry. I know Tohma real good. He is nervous cause we are here. That is all. He will calm down some when he gets used to it."

"I hope so." Erica said softly.

"Me too." Shuiichi said shuddering. "Once again he kicked me out of Eiri's room so he could talk to him."

Erica looked at Shuiichi, her eyes wide.

"What!" He asked looking around. "I didn't do it!"

"What are they talking about?" She asked, trying to sound casual.

"I don't know. If they wanted me to know, they wouldn't have told me to come help you. Eiri was writing, so right now I doubt that they were talking about much of anything. Knowing Eiri all he is doing is half listening to what is being said and giving him short sardonic replies." The tone in his voice was more that that had better be what was happening because if it were him that had disrupted Eiri's work, it would have been a lot more than that.

Erica tried to trust Tohma, as she unpacked the car with the two bishies. But she just couldn't help but think in the back of her mind that he was telling Eiri everything. When Eiri finally came out of his room almost two hours later, nothing seemed to be wrong.

"Shuiichi. Stay out of my room for now. Tohma is sleeping. He didn't sleep at all last night." Eiri said running a hand through the pink hair of the other as he passed him and moved into the kitchen. Too late for coffee, it was after noon, so it was a beer and a cigarette. This seemed to have been the main staple of Eiri's existence since he had gotten here, and Erica had to wonder if he had eaten anything in the last few days.

"What were you guys talking about?" Erica asked, wanting to sound casual, but the way those golden eyes met hers, it was clear that he was unhappy.

"You actually." He said.

"W…What?" She whimpered slightly.

"I know you don't like Tohma for whatever reason. And honestly I don't know why, other than a rather gruff meeting he has been nothing but polite with you despite your seeming resentment. But really calling him a liar? Don't you think that is a bit extreme when you don't even know him?" Eiri growled. He walked over to the table that she sat at and placed his hands on the table, looking down into her eyes. "I don't know what was talked about, he wouldn't tell me, but I do know this, and I will share it with you. If he looks at you and tells you that he promises something… he means it. And no matter what happens he will do his best to keep that promise, which is why he rarely uses the word. There is no 'promise' in manipulation."

Eiri would then tear those golden voids from hers and storm out of the room, surpassing Shuiichi without a word he moved into his room, not slamming the door only because Tohma was sleeping. Again Shuiichi couldn't help but wonder if he would have done that for him, he had slammed the door with Shuiichi sleeping plenty of times, but usually he was trying to rouse him.

"Sometimes I hate that man." Shuiichi said walking into the room. Eric was sitting at the table staring at it. Ryuichi was outside on the balcony; he hadn't heard any of it.

"Eiri?" She asked looking up at him.

"Tohma." Shuiichi answered, he sat down hard at the table, his head coming down over it, hands wrapping around and tangling into that pink hair.

"Tohma?" She was shocked for a moment, she thought for sure he was mad at Eiri, but that might be, because right now, she was.

"Yeah, I am the one that is dating Eiri, but he treats Tohma more like a lover than he does me." Shuiichi whimpered. "I sound awful I know, but I just can't get past it."

"It doesn't sound awful. I was thinking that too." She said. She had vaguely noted that he had surpassed Shuiichi to go back to Tohma, so technically she wasn't lying.

"I just love him so much…" Shuiichi sniffled. "And I wonder if he even knows it sometimes."

"He knows it Shuiichi. Tohma is upset, he is just being a good friend." He wanted to believe what she was saying, but somehow her words sounded empty, as if she had something else on her mind.

"Is something wrong?" Shuiichi asked. From the parlor he couldn't hear what was being said in the kitchenette.

"No. I'm fine. Just tired, I think I'm gonna take a nap." She said getting up and walking out of the room. She went out on the balcony and told Ryuichi the same thing. He would smile at her and go with her to his room, getting her tucked in with Mr. Bear.

"Just rest Erica. I don't know what's going on, but if you stress yourself out, you're gonna get sick." He said running his fingers through her hair until she fell asleep.


	15. Old Friends

(Old Friends – 15)

Time moved by slowly for the cast and crew of the Manga. But for Erica it seemed to move all to quickly. While she had shared a couple of kisses with Ryuichi, little else seemed to have changed between them, and neither of them had said the words. That they were together or dating or anything like that. It was infuriating. Neither one of them really knew what the other was thinking.

Things were getting tense though. Tohma had been stricken ill. It was like he had the flu, but no one else around him seemed to get it. Eiri, who was growing more and more impatient with people seemed to think it was due to stress. And made it more than clear that the he was sure the stress came from whatever it had been that Erica had asked him not to talk about. Tohma seemed to Eiri like he was trying to just forget about going home. Talking about buying a house here and settling in for a while.

Whenever Eiri asked him to talk to him further about it he dodged it or blatantly told him no.

Eiri had been drinking a lot. Erica did find out that the reason he hadn't been eating was because she was cooking, and she had a habit of making really spicy foods. He confessed to her that the reason that he didn't eat it was simply because he had a bleeding ulcer and that it might start to act up, causing him extreme pain should he eat anything spicy.

"I know about ulcer's." Erica said. Her and Eiri were sitting in the kitchen while she was making tacos, Ryuichi and Shuiichi were in the living room with Amy playing Super Mario Brothers, which had become the favorite past time in the hotel room. Tohma had been up and moving earlier, but he was so worn out that he had gone back to bed. "If you have a bleeding ulcer, you shouldn't be drinking coffee or beer either."

"Well see the problem is, that I eat bland foods because I have an ulcer, I drink because I am an alcoholic." Erica didn't really know what to think of that as Eiri cracked another beer.

"Maybe you shouldn't drink." She said. Eiri responded with a role of his eyes and a heavy sigh.

"Maybe. But then again, if I wanted a mother, I would go and find mine." Eiri said walking out of the room.

It was like he was a completely different person. He had fallen into the hold habits of taking a lot out on Shuiichi, and Erica did her best to stand up for him, but Eiri had a million reasons why he deserved it, and Shuiichi was willing to take it, so what could she do.

Ryuichi was getting progressively more hyperactive. He was bored. Nothing to do and no one to do it with, he missed home but didn't know if he wanted to leave just yet.

Over all it seemed like the honeymoon was starting to wear off. Over the week they did what they always did. Go to school or work for Eiri. Erica did all her work. Shuiichi alone seemed completely beside himself and odd. Ryuichi hung out with his otaku and with Erica, but she still didn't know if she could officially call him her boyfriend yet.

The biggest benefit recently however was that she went to bed and woke up alone in it all week long.

"I'M BORED!" The little pink rabbit's head would stick up over the edge of the table. Erica looked over from her homework and giggled at it, knowing better than to call it Ryuichi.

"What do you want to do Kumagorou?" She asked, her hand coming over and rubbing over the rabbit's head.

"I don't know! Tohma said that Ryu can take his car!" He said, bouncing Kumagorou around like he was all happy.

"Where do you want to take it?" Erica asked.

"Anywhere but here." Ryuichi said finally, letting the rabbit drop and standing up to his full height, the childish hyperactivity vanishing. "I'm sick and tired of just sitting around up here. Tohma says once he gets over this cold that he is going to get a house and we can have a lot more to do. But Eiri doesn't want that, he wants Tohma to get us back to Japan, so they have been fighting a lot. I just wanna get away. You wanna get away?"

"Actually… yeah." She said softly hanging her head. "I know we can go visit my friends in the town I used to live in! I haven't been back there in almost five years now!"

"Friends!" Ryuichi gasped.

"Yup!"

"YAY!" He bounced forward and kissed her dead on the lips before bounding out of the room. She would stand there and blush some, again the thoughts of where she stood rolling through her mind. Eiri thought that Ryuichi was too oblivious to notice that he hadn't actually asked her out, Shuiichi seemed to be on the same mind frame as Eiri.

"Are you going out?" Tohma asked, he was wrapped up in a bathrobe and looked like hell. For a moment even Erica felt sorry for him. He would let his eyes close slowly, coughing a bit.

"Yeah. We are going to go see some of Erica's friends!" Ryuichi said smiling. "You said I could take your car! Can I can I?"

"Of course, I am a man of my word." Tohma said surrendering the keys to Ryuichi.

Erica and Ryuichi moved down the stairs and to the garage. Ryuichi set Mr. Bear up on the dashboard with a cute little sign around his neck that said co pilot. Erica buckled herself into the car. At one point Tohma had told her never to let Ryuichi drive. He must've really wanted to get them out of the house. Who knew? But she was surprised to see that he actually drove very well. She smiled just watching him as the radio blasted Glaring Dream from the CD that she had burned. Ryuichi sang along as they drove.

It took them a very short time to get from where they were to where they were going. Fifteen minutes from one bridge to the other, seeing as there was a large bridge in both places. He would slow, pulling around the rotary (A road that goes around in a circle to alleviate the traffic from an intersection), Erica told him which exit to get off of and he would pull down into a place affectionately coined 'the park'.

Most of the day was spent moving from house to house down there. Starting with those closest to where their old apartment had been, and moving on to those further away.

Erica was glad to see that Ryuichi didn't mind being dragged along. Honestly it was kind of fun, he hadn't been out and about and not getting mobbed since Nittle Grasper hit the big time.

Finally settling in on one of her friend's porches, Ryuichi bounced around talking to random people while Erica kibitzed with her friends. They were all happy to see her, and very few of them actually knew what to think of Ryuichi.

One of her friends, well he was never really _her_ friend but more like a friend of a friend, Bastian was there. He was like the kids at school, didn't have a nice thing to say about Ryuichi or Erica for that matter. But for the most part Ryuichi just let it slide off his back like water off a duck. It wasn't until Erica stood up for him that Ryuichi lost his patience.

"Can't you just leave him alone!" Erica growled. "He's not gay…"

"How do you know?" Bastian taunted. "What are you fucking him?"

A lot of the kids laughed as Bastian made a gesture like he was humping the side of Tohma's car. Ryuichi just stood there blinking, wide eyed. A moment he had been singing Life Styles of the Rich and the Famous by Good Charlotte because it had been on in the car and everyone so far liked listening to him sing, even if his English singing voice was more accented than his English speaking voice.

"It's not a big deal Erica." Ryuichi said grabbing her shoulder. Honestly people always thought he was gay, it was because he was bouncy and flamboyant and because of Mr. Bear, and he knew it.

"It is! I am sick of people picking on you just because you are different!" Erica growled turning her gaze back to Bastian.

"Yeah, well prove it! If it bothers you that much!" Bastian said. "Tell us how good he is in bed?"

Again there was a flurry of nervous laughter. They couldn't tell how far this was going to go.

"I haven't slept with him!" Erica growled.

"Point made. Hell if he won't touch a slut like you!" Where did everyone get off calling her that! She was a virgin! Apparently these people didn't know the meaning of the word 'slut'.

"Hey!" Ryuichi growled looking at him, those wide eyes narrowing. "That wasn't very nice, I think you should apologize."

"Right… like I am going to listen to a faggot like you!" Bastian growled.

"I am _not_ a slut!" She said, her hand coming clean across Bastian's face. As if on instinct her hand met his cheek and his hand, moments later, met hers. She stumbled back clutching her face glaring at him. She would have gone after him but Ryuichi moved in.

"Never hit a woman!" He growled, hands quickly meeting with Bastian's shoulders and his knee would come up into his crotch. Bastian's eyes went wide as he slowly sank to his knees. His friends grabbed him and pulled him out of there. In a moment Ryuichi was next to Erica. "Are you all right? That was dumb, don't get yourself hurt because of me."

"He was wrong. You shouldn't let him talk about you like that." She sobbed, her face stung bad and she was sure that it would bruise.

"It is only air. It doesn't mean anything unless you let it." He said softly, running his fingers through her hair, he would softly kiss the side of her head. "Its just air."

"Ryu?" Erica said. He looked down at her as if to ask 'what?' "Will you sing for me."

He smiled and nodded, getting her back up on her friend Tim's porch. He would go back to singing for a while. He had started really like Linkin Park, which was Erica's favorite band; she always had something of theirs to listen to. Realizing how much like Eiri some of the songs actually sounded. Breaking the Habit. Numb. In the End. And so forth. He ended with a very angry rendition of My Chemical Romance's _I'm Not OK_. With the line **you said you read my like a book, but the pages all torn and frayed!** Still ringing in her mind, Erica wondered if he knew or not. He didn't say anything about it then if he did.

Erica seemed upset the whole ride home. She didn't know if she should tell him about it, after hearing him fall completely into the rage of I'm Not Ok she thought he might've known already.

"Are you alright?" He asked looking over at her.

"Yeah, I guess I'm fine." She said. "You were scary back there."

"Sorry." He said vacantly as he pulled out onto the highway. "I didn't mean to be."

"Why were you so mad?" She asked, trying to get a feeling for what was going on. He just shook his head.

"I know. Na No Da?" He said gently some time later, rousing her from her thoughts.

"You know?" It took her a minute for the horror to settle in.

"Tohma knows too." He said.

"Did Tohma tell…" She gasped.

"No." He said softly. "I found out when you were talking to your mother in the morning the first night Eiri was here. I was bored so I started reading your Inu Yasha Manga, then I noticed something I have never seen before, and I read it. I read all of them."

"Ryu… I'm…" She started.

"Don't say you're sorry. Because than you would be sorry for us having come here, and if we didn't come here, I never would've met you." Ryuichi said looking over at her and then back to the road.

"I am not sorry about that at all. I don't think life for me will ever be the same again." She confessed.

"Me either." He said smiling. She couldn't help but smile back at him.

"So we are ok right?" She asked.

"Yeah. We are just fine. I knew from almost the get go. So there is no reason why things have to change between us now. I mean. I knew when we started to get involved. That's why I didn't say anything about my feelings before that. Because I didn't want to get your hopes up and then vanish on you…"

She didn't know what to say, so she didn't. He slipped his hand of the shift and rested it on her leg for a moment, just to be reassuring and then, when he had to shift again, he moved it away.

"So… yeah. We are just fine."


	16. Become So Numb

(Become So Numb – 16)

"Just back the fuck off! What the fuck do you know! Nothing! That's what!" Eiri growled storming out of the room. Erica and Ryuichi had cornered him, singing a couple of songs that had touched home with him.

Ryuichi grabbed Eiri's arm trying to keep him from leaving and Eiri turned around clean cocking him right in the face. Ryuichi fell like a brick and Erica came to his side as Eiri stormed out officially. Shuiichi didn't know what to think, he was standing there, tears pouring down his face, torn between his idol and his lover.

"Tohma, he hit Ryuichi!" Shuiichi gasped.

"Ryuichi deserved it." Tohma said coldly. Erica glared over at him and Ryuichi looked at him with wide blue eyes. "That's right Ryuichi. You know exactly how he reacts to things like that. You… and you…" He pointed to Erica. "Deserve anything he dishes out to you now."

"Where are you going?" Shuiichi asked as Tohma emerged from his bedroom moments later dressed and ready to leave.

"I am going to go find Eiri." Tohma growled.

"Maybe you should let him sort it out on his own." Ryuichi said darkly.

"Maybe I should let him slit his wrists too… but I am not going to." Tohma said angrily. Erica thought that Tohma had infinite patience with Ryuichi, but apparently that patience just reached its end.

"Maybe you aren't the best one to go after him." Erica said softly. Honestly she meant that it would be better for Shuiichi to go after him, but Tohma rounded on her, those icy eyes set on hers.

"Really, than, since you broke him! You fix him!" He growled taking her hand in his and slapping the keys down in her hand. She flinched as the jagged keys hit her hand, but Tohma was beyond caring. "You think you can do it, Little Miss Fix-It, be my guest! But when you come back empty handed because he blew his brains out all over the wall don't come crying to me!" He would turn and storm away.

Erica felt like she was in a dream as she went down and got into the car with Ryuichi. She didn't even know where to start looking for him, but she knew that if she wanted to be completely alone in the middle of the night, she would probably go to a graveyard. A big one, so that there was no chance that you could accidentally be found within it's wall.

"I didn't mean for this to happen." She said to Ryuichi as she they pulled out of the hotel parking lot. "I only wanted to open his eyes."

"And you did. It certainly isn't your fault that he didn't like what he saw." Ryuichi answered turning those blue eyes her way. She smiled slightly at him, how was it that he always managed to make her feel better. It was like as long as he was there nothing could go wrong.

"There's Eiri's car!" Erica said pointing to the red sports car parked outside the cemetery. She slipped out of the car and ran in. There was a small building inside that was once used as a small chapel but had long since been converted to a shed for the maintenance people. She got a boost up from Ryuichi who stood below, keeping an eye. Once up on it, she climbed the steep roof, grabbing onto the old cross she would look around. There were very few people there, so, when she saw that tall figure dressed all in black, she knew who it was right off.

"Catch!" She said as she slipped off the edge of the roof, Ryuichi did indeed catch her. "He is over there. Let me go and talk to him. He might take it better coming from me than you."

Ryuichi nodded and walked back over to the cars, leaning against the black jaguar that belonged to Tohma. Erica walked, as if on a funeral march over to the area that she had seen Eiri in. It started to rain as she walked.

"Great." She said coming around a corner, she recognized the large gravestone and then scanned over two to the one that she had seen Eiri leaning on. She heard the distinctive click of his lighter and the smell of cigarette smoke filled the air.

"You certainly have gall." His cold voice said to her. "Following me here. However your efforts are in vain, you can leave now, and do so with a clear mind. I don't want to be your pity session."

"Eiri, I don't see you like that." Erica said. She wanted to tell him that she knew what he had gone threw, but could she, most likely not, because then Shuiichi would get yelled at because Eiri would think that Shuiichi told her.

"Really." He said slowly standing up and turning to look at her, those soulless gold eyes eating threw her. "What do you call it?"

"Understanding." As soon as she said it, she regretted it; the empty look in those eyes seemed to turn to fire.

"UNDERSTANDING!" Eiri growled. "You don't understand SHIT! You don't know anything about me, yet I become your fix it project!"

"No… it's not like that…" She tried to explain.

"Really than tell me what it is like!" He growled.

"I don't know what you have been through really, but I know that you blame it on yourself!" Erica stammered. Trying not to say to much. "Whatever happened to you, you think it was your fault."

Those eyes wavered for a moment before the heat rose again.

"Do I have a sign on my forehead?" He growled. "A little Out of Order sign, are you the Eiri Repair Man?"

"No… I…" She started.

"NO! Let me tell you." Eiri said he stepped forward and put his finger in her face. "You are a teenaged girl dealing with an adult issue. You have no idea what has happened to me. What I have done, what I am feeling? And yet you think, that because you upset me you have to fix me. Well no one can Erica! Not you, Shuiichi, Tohma, Mika, Ayaka… no one! So just fucking give up. Until you know what I have been through, just stop trying to fix it!"

"Tell me than!" Erica was surprised when she yelled at him.

"Fuck you. You don't need to know my life." And with that the black-garbed figure of Eiri Yuki slipped past her. She felt herself draw away from his touch; almost afraid he was going to hit her out of sheer anger.


End file.
